Hymans Robertson, Tribe Impact Capital, SEI, BNP Paribas Asset Management. Federated Hermes, Carillon Tower Advisers, Octopus Group, Planet Tracker
Hymans Robertson – David Walker, currently head of LGPS investment services at the consultancy, has been named chief investment officer, taking over from Andy Green. Walker has worked at Hymans Robertson for the last 19 years. Over that time, he has advised many private and LGPS funds across the whole range of investment services and was responsible for developing the consultancy’s strategic investment services and for public sector clients.
Green will be moving to chair the Hymans Robertson investment services investment committee, particularly looking at the newer areas into which the firm is diversifying to expand the reach of investment services beyond traditional pensions.
Tribe Impact Capital – Ulf Erlandsson, formerly a senior portfolio manager at Sweden’s AP4, has joined the impact-focussed wealth manager as an investment fellow on its advisory board.
Erlandsson built AP4’s green bond portfolio during his eight years at the Swedish buffer fund, which he left in August 2017. He is now chief investment officer of Diem, a hedge fund with a strategy focused on the credit market and climate impact, a board member of consultancy Cicero’s Shades of Green green bond framework evaluations, and the founder of the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute, a non-profit organisation researching and advocating a more positive bond market influence on the world’s sustainability challenges.
At Tribe Impact Capital, Erlandsson will regularly advise Fred Kooij, Tribe’s CIO, his team on credit markets, both from a macro strategy perspective and on individual issuers. He will provide insight on the sustainable investment opportunities in credit as they gain more traction in the market.
Commenting on his appointment, Ulf Erlandsson said: “The Tribe team offers a unique and credible holistic impact investing focus, which very closely aligns with my own view that all investments generate impact, one way or another. We share a vision where any mainstream investment portfolio should be considered and measured as impact portfolios, and I have been impressed by Tribe’s work to translate this into actual investment management.
“As a fellow, I hope to engage the Tribe in the big, but often overlooked, impact opportunities in the fixed-income space.”
Tribe says it’s the UK’s first dedicated impact wealth manager.
SEI – The fiduciary manager’s institutional group has recruited Rebekah Bennett as consultant relations director in Europe. Based in London, she will be responsible for the strategic management and development of existing and new relationships with fiduciary management and defined contribution plan consultants and the promotion of SEI’s solutions to these intermediaries.
Bennett joins SEI from BlackRock, where she spent the past decade focused on consultant relations for the company. She has also worked in client service and relationship management roles with BNP Paribas Securities Services.
BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) – Steven Billiet has been appointed head of Asia Pacific, with effect from 8 August. He succeeds Ligia Torres, who is retiring from the firm and will return to Europe in August.
Based in Hong Kong, Billiet joined BNPP AM earlier this year as head of distribution for Asia Pacific and will retain his regional distribution responsibilities in addition to his role as head of the region.
Federated Hermes – The firm has made two new hires to its impact opportunities team as client demand for sustainable investment solutions continues to surge. Reporting to Ingrid Kukuljan, head of impact investing, Amélie Thévenet and Jordan Patel will be joining the firm’s London office in September and July, respectively.
Thévenet will join the team as a director with a view to becoming co-portfolio manager on the Federated Hermes Impact Opportunities Fund in due course subject to internal approvals. She will be responsible for making investment decisions, working closely with Kukuljanand Martin Todd, co-portfolio manager, to select impactful companies providing solutions to unmet needs in society as represented by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Thévenet joins from Jupiter Asset Management where she spent 13 years of her career, most recently as global emerging markets (GEMs) equities fund manager. She and Kukuljan spent nine years working together at Jupiter and therefore have a close working relationship, sharing the same values and investment philosophy. They both believe in a bottom-up, thematic approach to investing and integrating sustainability factors to create long-term wealth for clients.
Patel will join the team as a senior analyst, providing company-specific and thematic research which will include the analysis of SDG-related themes for incorporation into investment appraisals. He will also actively contribute investment ideas that meet the impact criteria of the strategy.
Patel joins from Titan Capital Management where he was an equities analyst for three years. He initially covered the global energy, shipping and industrial sectors, and grew his remit to generate a number of successful “ESG leader” investment ideas in themes such as renewables, clean technology and water.
Carillon Tower Advisers – The multi-boutique asset manager has agreed to buy the proprietary financial risk analytics platform of Blaylock Van LLC, with the intention of the team that developed it joining Carillon to form a new risk division. Steve Singleton, director of equities/quantitative research at Blaylock Van and CIO at its subsidiary SPI Strategies, is due to join as head of risk, with his SPI Strategies colleagues Omur Munoz, Dmitriy Aronov, and Yolanda Dolores also coming on board.
At Carillion they are to use the platform to provide the asset manager’s partner affiliates and their autonomous investment teams with additional tools to evaluate risk in their portfolios while enhancing reporting and insights for clients.
Singleton has worked as a consultant for Carillon and its affiliate Eagle Asset Management on portfolio risk matters for three years. The acquisition of Blaylock Van’s analytics platform and the team behind it is expected to close by early in the fourth calendar quarter of 2020, subject to satisfaction of closing conditions.
Octopus Group – The firm has strengthened its institutional funds team with the appointments of Tancredi Micangeli and Angela Gyulveszy, both as distribution managers. The two new hires in as many months come as Octopus further develops its institutional investment offering.
Micangeli and Gyulveszy will both be responsible for building long-term relationships with institutional investors, as Octopus continues to expand its range of alternative investment funds. The firm has experience in several specialist sectors, having developed large teams assembled over time to combine behind-the-desk and on-the-ground asset management expertise. Octopus offers funds across venture capital, renewable energy and real estate assets, made up of healthcare infrastructure, commercial and residential real estate debt.
Micangeli joins Octopus from TT International, an institutional asset manager, where he was responsible for leading the sales and marketing efforts for its TT Event-Driven Fund – helping to significantly grow its assets under management.
Gyulveszy joined from Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PiP), where she was an investment relations director, responsible for establishing new institutional investor client relationships across infrastructure, alternative real estate, and co-investments. Prior to PiP, she held positions at both AXA Investments Managers and EMAC Capital.
Planet Tracker – The think tank working to analyse and expose capital markets’ mislignment with ‘planetary boundaries’ has recruited John Willis, a former global head of research at Deutsche Asset Management, as director of research, to meet an expanding programme.
Before joining Planet Tracker, Willis co-founded Sustainable Insight Capital Management, an asset manager that has managed a range of equity funds for sustainability-conscious investors. He was global head of trading, securities lending and research at then Deutsche Asset Management from 2006 to 2012, and global head of equity sector research for Deutsche Bank Securities from 2000 before that.
“As we add Plastics, Textiles and Water programmes to our existing work on Oceans and Food & Land Use, John’s extensive finance and research background will add a new dimension to our skills base,” said Planet Tracker executive director Robin Millington.
Matthew McLuckie, previously director of research at Planet Tracker, has assumed the role of director of investor relations as well as continuing to lead the organisation’s food and land use research programme.
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