Philip Reade

Founder and Managing Partner

Philip Reade is Founder and Managing Partner at Helm and serves as Co-Portfolio Manager.

From 2009 - 2016 Philip was Partner, Co-Portfolio Manager and Co-Head of the Investment Team at Tarpon Investimentos, Brazil´s largest independent equities manager with over US$ 3 billion in AUM.  At Tarpon, Philip led many of the firm’s successful investments across the Materials, Consumer, Healthcare and Energy sectors.  Philip also served on numerous public company boards including Omega Energy (Renewables, Chairman), Cremer (Healthcare, Chairman), Somos (Education, Chairman), Metalúrgica Gerdau (Steel) and Tempo Participações (Services).

Prior to Tarpon, Philip led the Brazilian operations of New York based hedge fund, Marathon Asset Management, focused on equities (private and public) and structured credit. Prior to that, he worked for Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking division in Sao Paulo. 

Philip began his investment career at Banco Garantia (founded by Brazilian entrepreneur and 3G founder Jorge Paulo Lemann) where he invested in distresses fixed income through numerous crises across Latam and Asia. He also worked as an Analyst at McKinsey & Co.

Philip holds an Economics Degree from the University of Sao Paulo (top ranked in class) and an MBA from Stanford Business School.

Thomaz Malavazzi

Founder and Managing Partner

Thomaz Malavazzi is Founder and Managing Partner at Helm and serves as Co-Portfolio Manager.

From 2009 - 2017, Thomaz was a Partner at Tarpon Investimentos, Brazil’s largest independent equities manager with over US$ 3 billion in AUM. At Tarpon, Thomaz served on the Executive Committee and was President of International Operations, based in New York. He led a number of successful local and overseas investments for the firm and also served on the board of renewables platform Omega Energy.

Prior to Tarpon, Thomaz was the Lead Strategist at HSBC Asset Management in Brazil, where he oversaw US$ 15 billion of AUM and served as a member of the Asset Allocation, Fixed Income and Equities Committees. He began his career a Bank Auditor at PriceWaterHouseCoopers in Brazil.

Thomaz holds an Economics Degree with Honors from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado in São Paulo and an MBA in Analytic Finance and Strategy from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Erik Cabral, CFA

Head of Quantitative Research

Erik Cabral joined Helm as Partner and Head of Quantitative Research in June of 2022.

From 2020 – 2022, Erik was an Associate Director at BTG Pactual, the largest investment bank in Latin America. At BTG, Erik created a quant unit from scratch within the Technology Division whose goal was to build valuation systems for complex derivatives. In that role he led a team of analysts and computer engineers.

Prior to BTG, Erik spent four years working at Petrobras, the largest public company in South America engaged in oil, gas and alternative energy exploration, production and distribution. At Petrobras, Erik worked in the risk management unit identifying methods of reducing the costs of oil extraction and increasing production. Prior to Petrobras, Erik worked at Banco Santander and at Banco Itaú in their risk divisions.

Erik holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering from the Military Institute of Engineering, the pre-eminent engineering school in Brazil. He also graduated with honors in his post-graduate Computer Application Security program at the Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advance Learning in Canada.