Whether he likes it or not, Duntroon-trained James Cruickshank has emerged the first target for a new US activist fund that has set it sights on a collection of opportunities at the small-cap end of the Australian equities market. Cruickshank is the chairman, chief executive and external relations manager of a $100 million market capital oil explorer called Antares Energy .

On Thursday the former soldier’s command became a big blip on the investment radar of New York based Lone Star Value Investors. Lone Star started building a stake in Antares in January, and almost immediately on passing a declarable 5 per cent stake, the fund has moved to extract control of the board from Cruickshank.