Andy Nigg joined Bank J. Safra Sarasin in 2018 as head US & Global Sustainable Equities and is responsible for Sustainable US portfolios. Prior to this he was at Vontobel for 20 years in a variety of roles. He was senior portfolio manager and head of the Equity and Commodity Strategy within the Multi Asset Class department. Before that, he was responsible for the Global Equities Team. He managed Global and North American equity portfolios and funds. Prior to joining Vontobel, Andy worked as portfolio manager at UBS (’94 – ‘98) managing US and Canadian equity funds and portfolios. He started his career at the Retail Banking division of Hong Kong Bank of Canada in Calgary. Andy is a CFA Charterholder, holds a Swiss Banking School (now Swiss Finance Institute) degree and earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calgary, Canada.  Today, -his main focus is on US equities.

Safra Sarasin Group – Sustainable Swiss Private Banking since 1841

As an international group committed to sustainability, J. Safra Sarasin is well established through its banks in more than 25 locations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. A global symbol of private banking and wealth management tradition, the group emphasizes security and well-managed conservative growth for its clients. At the end of December 2018, it managed total client assets of CHF 165 billion ($165 bilion) and employed about 2,200 staff, with stockholders equity of CHF 5.1 billion. Continue reading →

C WorldWide Asset Management (previously Carnegie Asset Management) was created in 1986 as part of the Carnegie Group. The firm was spun out of Carnegie Investment Bank in 2009 and the name changed in 2017. C WorldWide is 80% owned by private equity Altor Fund III and 20% by employees. Today it manages <$20 billion in global equities for institutional clients in the Nordic region, the UK, Canada and Australia. Main portfolios are highly concentrated with just 30 stocks held. The investment approach is bottom up stock-picking and they focus on stocks above $10 billion market cap and the average market cap is nearer $100 billion. The focus is on companies generating free cash flow and earnings growth. In addition to the concentrated global equity strategy, the firm has an ethical and long/short version of the same strategy plus a number of more specialised strategies, including Global Healthcare.

Bo Knudsen is Managing Director and Global Portfolio Manager at C WorldWide Asset Management in Copenhagen.  He holds a M.Sc. (Economics and Business Administration) degree from Aarhus School of Business and San Francisco State University.  Bo has worked with portfolio management of global equities since 1989. Prior to joining C WorldWide Asset Management in 1994 he worked for five years as a global portfolio manager with Danske Capital in Copenhagen and ultimately held the position as Head of International Equity Investments. From 1998 Bo joined Nordea Investment Management as Executive Director and Head of Equities. He re-joined C WorldWide Asset Management in 2001 as global portfolio manager.

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Aviva is the largest insurer and a leading life and pensions provider in the UK and Aviva Investors is its asset management business. The Edinburgh office was set up in 2018 with nine senior staff from Aberdeen Standard Investments. Aviva Investors manages around $444 billion. $50 billion in active equities. It has offices in 19 financial centers including Edinburgh, London, Paris, the US (Chicago) and Canada staffed by over 40 equity investment professionals.  Global equity strategies include: Income ($776 million – income and capital growth), Endurance (c.$1 billion – defensive capital growth) and launched in 2019, Unconstrained (opportunistic capital growth). AUM in global equities are currently $2.5 billion and this figure is expected to grow.

Mikhail Zverev joined Aviva Investors in October 2018 as Head of Global Equities. He was formerly Head of Global Equities at Standard Life Investments (SLI) and also portfolio manager on a number of funds. He joined SLI in 2007. After graduating from St Petersburg State Technical University with a BSc Physics, Mikhail started his career in 1998 with Trigon Capital, an Eastern European investment banking firm. He gained his MSc Accounting and Finance from London School of Economics and joined the investment banking division of Schroder Salomon Smith Barney in London in 2001, before moving to First State Investments as an Analyst, UK Equities in 2002.

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Ali Miremadi is an investment director, who runs global equity funds and a US-focused fund. Miremadi was one of the principal partners at THS Partners, (acquired by GAM in 2016). He joined THS Partners in 2007. Previously, Miremadi worked at Goldman Sachs. He started his career in 1994 at Baring Securities. Miremadi holds a first-class degree in English Literature from Wadham College, Oxford and is also a CFA charter holder.

GAM is an independent asset manager, providing active investment solutions and products for institutions, financial intermediaries and private investors.  GAM employs over 900 people in 14 countries. Headquartered in Zurich, it is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The Group has assets under management of CHF163.8 bn ($165 bn) as at 30 June 2018. CHF84.4 bn ($88 bn) is managed actively in-house. Continue reading →

James Seddon is one of the Founding Partners of Hosking Partners. He previously worked with Jeremy Hosking at Marathon Asset Management from 2006 to 2012. Prior to that, James spent 19 years at Rowe Price-Fleming and T. Rowe Price International where he was a Senior Portfolio Manager of European equities for the European and International Equity strategies. James began his career at Schroder Capital Management and holds a degree in Physics from Oxford University.

Hosking Partners is an investment management partnership that started in 2013. The firm has around $9 billion of assets under management through one global equity strategy. The investment team of five seeks long-term investments using a fundamental contrarian methodology. Their differentiated approach has a long-term investment horizon through a diversified portfolio of stocks with a high active share. The investment philosophy incorporates a capital cycle analytical framework: the tendency of industries with high returns to attract new capital and more competition, which over long periods of time drives down industry returns until capital withdraws, returns recover and the cycle begins again. This is combined with a behavioural approach that uses mental models to assess companies and industries. The strategy aims for alpha generation over the long term.

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Mark Oud

Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Kempen Capital Management was established in 1991 and today manages €59.8 bn ($73 bn), of which €16.3 bn is in investment strategies and €43.5 bn in investment solutions. The firm has offices in Amsterdam, London, Edinburgh and Paris. The investment strategy is stable outperformance over the long term with ESG fully integrated into the investment process. Kempen’s investment strategies division has a number of equity strategies: small caps, high dividend, sustainable value creation and sustainable equity.

Mark Oud joined Kempen in 2017 as a senior portfolio manager for sustainable value creation. Before this he was a senior portfolio manager at Delta Lloyd Asset Management and head of Delta Lloyd’s Cyrte Investment. He previously worked at Main Capital Partners and Deutsche Bank.

Richard Klijnstra

Since August 2016, Richard Klijnstra has been head of sustainable value creation, having previously been head of Kempen’s credit team from 2006 to 2016. Prior to this, he worked at Fortis Investments in Paris and the Netherlands, and at Nationale-Nederlanden. Here he discusses Kempen’s approach to sustainable growth.

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The Hambro name has been closely associated with the investment world for more than 200 years. Founded in 2010, James Hambro & Partners LLP (JH&P) is an Independent Private Asset Management Partnership with assets under management, advice and administration of £2.8 billion (US$3.8 billion). The partnership offers institutional-quality investment management to HNW families, trusts, individuals, charities and associated portfolios.

William Francklin joined JH&P in July 2017 and has over 30 years’ experience managing portfolios. He began his career in investment management in 1981, working at Morgan Grenfell Asset Management (in both London and New York) and latterly at Waverton Investment Management. William has also managed assets for American clients for a number of years. As JH&P has SEC authorisation (as of July 2017) he will continue to manage global portfolios for US clients based in the US and overseas. Continue reading →

Mike Fox of Royal London Asset Managers.

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) was established in 1988 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Royal London Group (founded 1861). The Group consists of the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited (RLMIS) and its subsidiaries, and is the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company.

RLAM also manages assets to external clients, notably corporate pension schemes, local authorities, insurance companies, charities, endowments, universities, wealth managers etc. It has AUM of £106 billion/$140 billion (June 30 2017).

Mike Fox is Head of Equities and Senior Fund Manager of the Sustainable World Trust and Sustainable Leaders Trust, the latter role he has fulfilled since November 2003. During this time he has been awarded Citywire Top 100 UK Growth Fund Manager of the year (2007) and has a 4* Morningstar rating.

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Jeremy Thomas joined Sarasin & Partners in 2016 from Allianz Global Investors where he spent 12 years. Prior to this he spent three years at Isis Asset Management (now BMO Global), five years at Schroders and five years as a British Army Officer.  He has a degree in PPE from Oxford University.

London-based Sarasin & Partners LLP manages £14.1 billion ($18.3 billion).  Local management own 46% of the economic interest of the partnership with the remaining 54% owned by Basel-based Bank J Safra Sarasin Group (AUM $154bn).  Sarasin & Partners manages money for domestic and overseas private clients, charities, pension funds, institutions and retail investors.

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Matthieu Rolin joined Aviva Investors France in 2015 and covers US equities.  He was previously a senior portfolio manager at SwissLife Banque Privée (2010 – 2015) and a senior fund manager at Olympia Capital (2004 – 2010).  He has a Masters in Banking and Finance from Université Lumière (Lyon II) and SKEMA Bachelor.

Aviva is one of the world’s largest insurance groups with global assets of >$630 billion.  It is also France’s third largest multi-line insurer and has ~$50 billion under management.

How is Aviva Investors France positioned in the French investment management industry?
“We are a top 10 asset manager in France in terms of AUM.  We invest in all asset classes – equities, fixed income, real estate, multi asset and some alternative investments.  There are 35 in the investment team – portfolio managers and analysts and we also share resources with other Aviva offices around the world.  For example, there are nine analysts in the US, eight in London, two in Singapore and one in Toronto plus the four analysts we have in Paris.”

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