Validus Holdings Ltd has announced that Paschal Brooks has joined Validus Managers Ltd as an executive vice-president and the portfolio manager for the AlphaCat funds.Formed in 2008, Validus Managers currently manages more than $400 million in investor capital, focused on first-tier and retrocessional reinsurance and catastrophe bonds through a range of AlphaCat branded vehicles.The growth of AlphaCat fulfills Validus’ strategic initiative to expand into capital markets activities by participating in the market for Insurance Linked Securities, an asset class offering attractive investment yields with low correlation to the overall financial markets.Investors in AlphaCat benefit from the market leading business sourcing, underwriting, research and analytic capabilities of the overall Validus organisation which facilitates the construction of reinsurance portfolios with superior risk-adjusted expected returns. At present, AlphaCat consists of the AlphaCat Fund, the AlphaCat High Return Fund and AlphaCat Re 2011.Mr Brooks brings with him more than 11 years of experience in the insurance and investment banking industries. He most recently worked as a vice-president in the structured finance group within the investment banking division at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Previously, Mr Brooks had also worked as a research analyst at Alleghany Corporation.