Spanish Oak Capital

A global macro investment manager. At our core, risk managers.

Operator judgment · Systematic discipline

- About

We navigate global macro regimes through structural allocation, dynamic risk management, and disciplined downside protection.

Spanish Oak Capital is an investment manager built by operators. For a decade and a half we worked opposite ends of the same business — moving physical barrels and structuring hedges across Latin American energy markets, and structuring derivatives and trade finance for commodities clients across London, New York, and Madrid.

Those were the most volatile years in commodity markets in a generation. We didn’t read about them as macro events — we priced risk in the middle of them, where the difference between a good and a bad week was measured in real P&L. That experience shapes how we read markets today: a systematic engine for structure and consistency, operator judgment for the moments a model cannot see, and downside discipline governing both.

- Why Spanish Oak

What sets our approach apart.

i.

Operators, not observers

We’ve executed in these markets, not just studied them. That experience shapes how we read risk — and how we act when it matters.

ii.

Judgment plus discipline

Systematic rigor for consistency; operator judgment for the moments models can’t see. Neither alone — the two together.

iii.

Risk-first

Defined-risk thinking inherited from two decades structuring and managing derivatives. Capital preservation is the first duty.

- The Team

The operators.

More than 30 years of combined operator experience across physical commodities, derivatives, and emerging markets — now applied to macro portfolio management.

Jose Maria Jove, CFA

Founding Partner & CIO

15+ years structuring derivatives and financing commodity supply chains across London, New York, and Latin America.

9 years at ED&F Man Capital Markets (London & New York)
OTC structured derivatives — exotic options
Structured trade finance — secured lending portfolio

The wider team

Behind the strategy sits a bench of operators drawn from physical commodities, energy, and derivatives markets.

More than 30 years of combined operator experience across physical commodities, derivatives, and emerging markets — now applied to macro portfolio management.

- Approach

The galleon and the navigator.

Two things drive every decision: a systematic engine, and the judgment to know when the engine can’t see the full picture.

The Galleon

The systematic engine

Rules-based and disciplined. It reads the economic regime from hard data — growth, inflation, policy, and risk — and sets the portfolio’s structure. It rebalances on rules, not opinions.

The Navigator

The judgment layer

Discretionary, bounded by defined risk limits. Two people who spent their careers inside commodity and derivatives markets, deciding when reality diverges from the model — and running a listed options overlay for protection and yield. The navigator can adjust the course; the navigator cannot abandon the ship’s rules.

We invest across liquid, exchange-traded markets — guided by economic cycles, regional conditions, and defined-risk structures. The cargo arrives. That is the first duty.

- Insights

Notes from the desk.

The Cost of Financing: When Government Debt Stops Being Free

Read →

Central Banks at a Crossroads: From Synchronized Easing to Divergence

Read →

The Diesel Disconnect: Macro’s Hidden Inflation Signal

Read →

- Contact

Existing investors

Access statements, capital accounts, and reporting through our independent administrator’s secure portal.

About this site

This website is provided for general information about Spanish Oak Capital. It is not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security, and contacting us does not create an investment or advisory relationship.

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Spanish Oak Capital, LLC is a private investment manager. This website is provided for general informational purposes only and describes the firm and its investment philosophy. It does not constitute, and should not be construed as, an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security or interest in any fund, nor investment, legal, or tax advice. Any such offering is made only to eligible investors through confidential offering documents. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Nothing herein is directed at any person in any jurisdiction where its publication or availability would be unlawful.