Armajaro
Armajaro Asset Management is a commodity investment firm based in London. The company specializes within the cocoa and coffee markets, managing investments in soft commodity hedge funds. Armajaro is run by Anthony Ward. Armajaro also has investments in wine production and wine distribution as well as cocoa processing. Armajaro employs a full-time meteorologist and has its own weather stations to help anticipate yields of commodities around the world. The firm also has a sizable soft commodity research unit, Armajaro Research Limited, that has over 20 staff globally at country of origin specializing in cocoa and coffee research. History Armajaro Group was founded by Anthony Ward and Richard Gower in May 1998. That November, Armajaro Securities Ltd gained Financial Services Authority authorization. Armajaro, in 2001, acquired a wine producing estate in Paarl, South Africa. The company established subsidiaries in Lagos, Nigeria and Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire and got into the asset management business in 2002. Ward, the manager of the CC+ hedge fund, has been dubbed "CHOCFINGER" by fellow traders for his exploits. The nickname is a reference to both the Bond villain Goldfinger as well as a British confection. In August 2002, Armajaro bought three-quarters of the 204,380 tonnes of cocoa