People moves: Swedish boutique hires AP4's green bonds chief

AP4, Granit Funds, ILG, TKP Investments, Corestone, Altis, Robeco, Arabesque, Silverfleet, Neuberger Berman, Coller Capital, Hamilton Lane, PineBridge, Aberdeen, BNP Paribas, Unigestion, ShareAction

AP4/Granit Funds – Ulf Erlandsson , senior portfolio manager at Swedish buffer pension fund AP4 , will move to Swedish asset management boutique Granit Funds in August. At AP4 he built the SEK334bn (€34.2bn) fund’s green bond portfolio. He will become Granit Funds’ head of fixed income, and will look to launch a new hedge fund for the firm, focusing on climate change and green bonds.

Investment Leaders Group – Roelie van Wijk-Russchen has been appointed chair of the Investment Leaders Group, a group of 10 leading pension funds, insurers and asset managers convened by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership . Van Wijk-Russchen is CEO of TKP Investments , a €25bn subsidiary of Aegon Asset Management. She has held the position since 2006. Her most recent previous role was chair of the non-executive board within the one-tier board of the Dutch railway pension fund. She is a board member of the Dutch Fund and Asset Management Association.

Corestone/Altis – Swiss fiduciary management specialist Altis has lost more staff, with Robert Kende and Sandro Caluori moving to Corestone Investment Managers , based in the Swiss city of Zug. Caluori joins the manager selection team, having previously been a senior portfolio manager at Altis. Kende was head of technology at Altis, and moves to Corestone’s technology team. In February, Kempen hired four senior staff from Altis. The Swiss firm has begun rebuilding with the hires of Martin Sanders and Kees Verbaas from Univest and Blue Sky Group respectively.

Robeco – Bas Knol is leaving the asset manager, where he has been an active owner specialist since June 2015, to pursue other career opportunities. His departure is effective 1 June. Robeco’s active ownership team engages with listed companies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Before Robeco, Knol was the interim sustainability manager for investments at ABN Amro Private Banking. He was communications manager for Aegon Global Pensions for seven years before moving to ABN Amro.

Arabesque Asset Management – Anja Mikus , chief investment officer of the quantitative ESG manager, has been seconded for six months to the German government’s €23.6bn nuclear phase-out fund. She will be interim CEO and CIO.

Silverfleet Capital – The European private equity firm has hired four staff to its investment team, to be based across three European offices. Johan Boork has joined from UBS Investment Bank as an associate, based in London, and will work with the newly appointed co-head of Nordic region Karl Eidem. Jan Kux has also been named as an associate, having joined from JP Morgan, and will work from Silverfleet’s Munich office. Also joining the Munich office is Guntram Kieferle , who is an analyst, having started at Silverfleet last year as an intern. Finally, Constance d’Avout has joined the firm as an associate based in Paris. She was previously a member of EQT Partners’ credit funds team.

Neuberger Berman – The US asset management firm’s private equity arm has appointed Philipp Patschkowski as a principal in its European business. He will focus on expanding the group’s European operations. He joins from Coller Capital where he was most recently a principal with responsibility for investments, co-investments, and fundraising with a focus on Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Hamilton Lane – Another US alternatives manager hiring in Europe is Hamilton Lane. The group has appointed three staff: Carolin Blank (principal, relationship management team), Ahmed Khalil (vice president, relationship management team), and Lali Sichinava (vice president, business development team). Blank joins from Alvarez & Marsal Europe, where she was a senior director of relationship management for private equity. Khalil was previously a vice president at BlackRock Private Equity Partners while Sichinava joins from BNP Paribas where she held a number of positions.

PineBridge Investments – Klaus Schuster has been appointed managing director of its UK office and head of Europe. He has worked at the $80bn (€71.9bn) manager for 16 years, most recently as head of business development for Europe. Anthony King , regional CEO for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, has decided to leave the company.

Aberdeen Asset Management – Paul Mehta has been appointed global head of loans, as part of an expansion of the UK-based manager’s resources in this asset class. He joins from BNP Paribas ’s loan and distressed debt team where he was a senior trader. He has also worked in sales for the French group’s leverage loan, distressed and high yield sales team.

Unigestion – The Swiss asset manager has hired Robert Kosowski as head of quantitative research for its equities team. He is – and will remain – associate professor of finance at Imperial College Business School in London. He is also a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research and an associate member of the Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance at Oxford University.

ShareAction – The responsible investment campaign organisation has created two new roles, head of research and analytics, and head of campaigns and advocacy. Toby Belsom has been appointed to the former, effective 19 April, and Nitin Sukh to the latter, effective 2 May. Belsom has 10 years’ experience as a UK equity portfolio manager at Aviva Investors , and another seven as an analyst in the socially responsible investment teams at NPI, Henderson Investors and Aviva Investors. Sukh recently moved back to the UK after spending some 10 years working in India for Yes Bank , working on the group’s sustainability practice, developing green financial products, and leading low carbon public policy engagements.