Optima and Mellon Private Asset Management (MPAM) agreed in June 2000 to give Mellons high-net-worth clients exclusive access to Optimas hedge funds. MPAM President David Lamere described that relationship, which gave MPAM exclusive U.S. rights to offer Optima funds to its clients, as "highly successful" in a statement.
Optima was founded in 1988 and manages $1.7 billion in assets, with more than 20 hedge funds, both on-shore and off-shore, through a Bermuda-based affiliate.