Morgan Stanley Capital Partners Acquires Environmental Consulting and Engineering Firm

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Investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners (“MSCP”), the middle-market focused private equity team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, have acquired Apex Companies (“Apex” or the “Company”), a provider of end-to-end environmental consulting and engineering solutions, from Sentinel Capital Partners (“Sentinel”).

MSCP is partnering with the current management team led by CEO Dave Fabianski, who will continue to lead the business. Sentinel Capital Partners will maintain a minority position in the Company post-closing.

Apex, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, “is a leader in consulting and engineering services across a broad range of environmental and infrastructure needs”, according the firm information. The Company serves public sector clients at the federal, state, and municipal levels, as well as thousands of private sector clients across retail, industrial, real estate, technology, financial services and energy end markets.

An established leader in stormwater compliance and environmental services, Apex also offers a strong portfolio of services in infrastructure and water resources, compliance and assurance (including ESG consulting), health and safety, transportation and civil engineering, the press release adds.

“Apex’s solutions serve clients and communities across a broad range of environmental and infrastructure needs, and seek to ensure that corporations, government agencies and municipalities achieve and maintain regulatory compliance. In addition to being a highly respected provider of environmental services, Apex is also a leader in the attractive and high-growth stormwater compliance industry,” said Eric Kanter, Managing Director and Head of Industrials at MSCP. “We believe the company’s record of expansion, both organically and through accretive M&A, has generated substantial momentum for continued growth. We are excited to partner with Dave and the Apex leadership team to drive continued success in Apex’s core service offerings and to pursue strategic M&A that adds additional geographic presence, service capabilities and customer diversity.”

Dave Fabianski, President and CEO of Apex, stated, “Partnering with MSCP provides us with a tremendous opportunity to access additional capabilities and resources that we believe will help us further enhance our value proposition and service offering. Together with MSCP we will accelerate our strategic growth pursuits in water, environmental, infrastructure, and ESG, while expanding our investment in Apex’s people, culture, and digital strategies. The outlook in our industry has never been better, and we are excited to partner with the MSCP team for our next chapter of growth.”

MSCP’s acquisition of Apex represents its second investment in environmental services, following the acquisition of Alliance Technical Group in 2021, and is an area where the team has deep institutional knowledge and domain expertise. It also is in line with MSCP’s and Morgan Stanley’s broader commitment to ESG.

Latham & Watkins served as legal counsel to MSCP, and Harris Williams and Raymond James served as MSCP’s financial advisors. Carlyle and Churchill Asset Management acted as the administrative agents, bookrunners and arrangers on the financing.

Jennifer Ryan Joins Lazard Asset Management as Head of North American Distribution

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Jennifer Ryan

Lazard Asset Management (LAM) announced that Jennifer Ryan has joined the firm as Managing Director and Head of North American Distribution, effective immediately.

Based in New York, Ms. Ryan joins from BlackRock where she held leadership roles in both its U.S. and U.K. Institutional Client Businesses. As a member of the senior leadership team for Lazard’s Asset Management business, she will be responsible for LAM’s business development in North America and will oversee its Institutional Client Group, Financial Institutions Group, Alternative Investments Sales, and Consultant Relations Group.

“Jen brings to Lazard over 25 years of experience in the asset management industry. She has a deep understanding of the North American market, the trends that are driving its evolution, and the strategies needed to grow and develop both our intermediary and institutional client businesses,” said Evan Russo, Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Asset Management.

“Her appointment underscores our commitment to providing outstanding service and differentiated investment solutions to meet the continually evolving needs of our clients.” “This is a fantastic opportunity to further optimize LAM’s distribution capabilities in North America,” said Ms. Ryan.

“Lazard is a well-established global brand, and I am looking forward to working with its outstanding distribution teams to increase our presence in the region and continue to provide world-class investment solutions to new and existing clients.” Ms. Ryan joins Lazard from BlackRock where she spent six years in senior leadership roles in both its U.S. and U.K. Institutional Client Businesses.

Previously, she spent 19 years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in several key client-facing roles, including Head of U.S. Consultant Relations, Co-Head of Endowments and Foundations and Head of New York Bank Intermediary Sales. Ms. Ryan started her career as a product strategist in the Global Liquidity business at Goldman Sachs. She earned a B.A. in English and International Studies from Boston College, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Insigneo Appoints Homar Mauras to Market Head for the Andean Region, Central America and The Caribbean

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Photo courtesyHomar Mauras, Market Head for the Andean Region, Central America and the Caribbean

Insigneo announced the appointment of Homar Mauras as Market Head for the Andean Region, Central America and the Caribbean. He will be based at the firm’s Puerto Rico office.

Prior to joining Insigneo, Mauras was President, CEO and COO of Citi International Financial Services LLC in Puerto Rico, which Insigneo acquired in August 2022. Throughout his successful 25 plus year career at CIFS in Puerto Rico, he worked in a variety of leadership positions including Regional Sales Principal, Regional Sales Manager, and Head Trader.

“Insigneo’s recent acquisition of Citi International Financial Services has further strengthened Insigneo’s platform to serve clients in the Andean Region, Central America and the Caribbean, and positioning a senior leader like Homar in this leadership role at Insigneo further evidences our commitment to develop our wealth-management business across these key markets,” said Rodolfo Castilla, Sales Head of Insigneo Financial Group. “Having known Homar for over 20 years, I am sure he is perfectly suited to lead our growth efforts – organic and inorganic – in this important region, with a much bigger presence in Puerto Rico as a regional hub of Insigneo.”

Added Mauras: “I am excited to bring to Insigneo a strong expertise and skill set which I have honed over the past 30 years, working successfully in top leadership positions within the uniquely complex Andean, Central American and Caribbean markets. I have a close pulse on local market dynamics and emerging trends, and look forward to working with the Insigneo team to find new ways to meet the changing needs of our different wealth managers and their clients.”

Additionally, as Insigneo continues to integrate the two firms and optimize its operating model, Javier Rivero, the current President and Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed President of Insigneo International Financial Services LLC. Rivero, who joined Insigneo in 2017 as Head of Client Relations, is noted as a seasoned executive with extensive experience in senior management roles within the wealth management industry.

As to Mauras, following is some additional background: The distinguished executive has over 30 years of highly valued experience in the Latin America Wealth Management sector. He has worked in roles throughout multiple geographies, across all operational areas of the investment wealth-management business including operations management, sales management, offshore banking products, business development and business process improvements.

He received a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) in finance and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Inter American University. His licenses include: SIE – Securities Industry Essentials Examination; Series 7 – General Securities Representative Examination; and Series 24 – General Securities Principal Examination

Australian Boutique Investment Manager Maple-Brown Abbott Partners with Hyde Park Investment

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Australian boutique investment manager Maple-Brown Abbott has entered into an agreement with Hyde Park Investment (HPI) to distribute its UCITS funds in the UK and several countries across Europe including Sweden, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and France. 

Maple-Brown Abbott CEO and Managing Director Sophia Rahmani said the partnership with HPI would allow the firm’s UCITS funds to be distributed to a broader range of UCITS fund buyers including wealth managers, family offices and private banks. This distribution agreement would complement Maple-Brown Abbott’s existing relationship with Douse Associates, which has been a quality partner for 17 years with a focus on institutional investors and their consultants, and some UCITS buyers in the UK and Switzerland. 

“We are aiming to build on our existing presence across the UK and Europe for our existing UCITS funds – global listed infrastructure and Asian equity income – as well as funds we are looking to launch in the future such as global emerging markets,” Ms Rahmani said. “We believe we have compelling and differentiated investment capabilities, which are managed by globally recognised and award-winning teams. This includes the long-standing integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into the investment process for all our strategies, with our existing UCITS funds all registered Article 8.  

They are confident that the HPI team is aligned with their culture and values at Maple-Brown Abbott, and believe that HPI’s distribution model, with experienced teams on the ground in the UK, Sweden, France, Italy and Spain and its strong track record in attracting assets, will broaden its investor base in these markets, according to Rahmani’s statement.

Commenting on the new agreement, Hako Finckenstein, Director, Hyde Park Investment, added, “We are delighted to be representing Maple-Brown Abbott’s UCITS funds in the UK and Europe. This partnership is a natural alignment of our businesses and values, particularly our mutual commitment to ESG. Maple-Brown Abbott has nearly 40 years of excellent investment pedigree and a unique product offering which resonates strongly with the market. 

“We are encouraged by the interest our clients have shown already, especially in relation to Maple-Brown Abbott’s integrated ESG capability.”

Ms Rahmani concluded: “As a world class boutique investment manager with a range of differentiated investment strategies, we are excited to be working with two established and well-respected partners to continue to build deeper relationships with existing and future clients in the UK and Europe.”

Bank of America, NVIDIA and Microsoft Lead JUST 100

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JUST Capital, along with media partner CNBC, released the 2023 Rankings of America’s Most JUST Companies, including the marquee JUST 100. The Rankings are the only comprehensive evaluation of how the nation’s largest corporations perform on the Issues that matter most to Americans today, including creating jobs in the U.S., paying a fair, living wage, acting with integrity at the leadership level, supporting workforce retention and training, protecting worker health and safety, providing benefits and work-life balance, protecting customer privacy, minimizing pollution, and more.

Out of the 951 analyzed companies, Bank of America is America’s Most JUST Company for the first time, having risen steadily in the Rankings over the past five years, from #104 in 2018 to #71 in 2020 to #5 in 2022, to the #1 spot in the 2023 Rankings.

Bank of America’s standout leadership on Workers Issues – particularly its efforts to pay all employees a fair, living wage – especially drive this high performance, as well as its work to offer sustainable financing products, eliminate barriers for hiring, and prioritize board diversity and independence.

This year, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Accenture, Truist Financial, Verizon, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Apple, Intel, and JPMorgan Chase round out the top 10.

“This recognition reflects our commitment to Responsible Growth,” said Brian Moynihan, Chairman and CEO of Bank of America. “That includes all we do to be a great place to work: Investing in our teammates and creating opportunities to help them grow and develop their careers. At the same time, by delivering Responsible Growth we help create jobs, develop communities, foster economic mobility, and address some of society’s biggest challenges.”

For the annual Rankings, JUST Capital collects and analyzes corporate data to evaluate the 1,000 largest public U.S. companies across 20 Issues identified through comprehensive, ongoing public opinion research on Americans’ attitudes toward responsible corporate behavior. JUST Capital has engaged more than 160,000 participants, on a fully representative basis, since 2015.

Crucially, across every demographic surveyed – political affiliation, race, gender, age, or income group – Americans are united in wanting companies to prioritize Workers as the most important stakeholder and Pays a fair, living wage as the most important business Issue today. Over the last six years, Americans have consistently prioritized Worker Issues most highly among all 20 Issues JUST Capital tracks and measures, and this year that outcome has become even more pronounced. Paying a fair, living wage has more than doubled in priority since 2020 (from 9% to 21%), and four of the five Worker Issues regarding wages, health, training, and benefits are among the top six priorities of the public, reinforcing that these issues have become increasingly critical in the minds of American workers and consumers.

About its Methodology

Since 2015, JUST Capital has surveyed over 160,000 Americans – representative of the U.S. adult population – on what they believe U.S. companies should prioritize when it comes to just business behavior. JUST Capital’s latest Issues Report – which includes responses from 3,000 respondents – uses a Max-Diff discrete choice modeling technique that asks Americans what business behaviors are most and least important to defining a just company and then assigns a weight to each based on the probability that a respondent would choose that issue as most important. Those Issues become the foundation by which JUST Capital tracks, analyzes, and incentivizes corporate behavior change. The organization evaluated 951 companies across 20 Issues, five stakeholders, and 245 unique data points to produce the ranking model that drives America’s Most JUST Companies, including the JUST 100 and Industry Leader lists.

High-Net-Worth Investors Embrace Alternative Investments

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Guía de Charles Schwab para RIA

Alternative investing is gaining momentum among high-net-worth (HNW) investors (those with $5 million or more in total investable assets). Up from 7.7% of client portfolios in 2020, HNW clientele now have an average of 9.1% of their assets allocated to alternative investing options, and advisors expect this to increase to 9.6% by 2024, according to The Cerulli Report—U.S. High-Net-Worth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Markets 2022: Shifts in Alternative Allocations.

There are numerous reasons advisors are adding alternative investments to client allocations. Portfolio diversification (50%) to help reduce volatility, along with new growth opportunities (50%), are among the top cited.

“Advisors—disappointed in public equity and fixed-income returns—are allocating more to private capital exposures,” says Chayce Horton, research analyst. “By expanding opportunities into private asset and credit markets, affluent and HNW investors are better equipped to properly diversify their portfolios.”

Moving forward, HNW practices report strong intentions to increase alternative investments in almost all strategies over the next two years. Private equity leads the way, with 50% of advisors and executives planning to increase their allocations, followed by private real estate (45%) and direct investments/co-investing (32%). A vast majority (94% or more) of surveyed HNW practices expect to maintain or grow their positions in all types of alternative investment opportunities, outside of hedge funds.

HNW practices are also increasing offerings such as alternative manager search and selection as a primary service, growing from 50% in 2016 to 67% in 2022. Cerulli expects this trend among HNW practices to persist as private markets continue to mature and prospects for additional tailwinds in the space proliferate. “Practices competing in the HNW advisory space should consider making these types of alternative investment consulting and implementation services a core part of their offering,” says Horton. “Access to alternative opportunities is a beneficial aspect of advisors’ service offerings that has proven to both attract and retain HNW clients over time.”

Apex Group Enhances Technology Offering with PFS Acquisition

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Apex Group Ltd announces the acquisition of Pacific Fund Systems (PFS), a global fund administration software business, from co-founders and Pollen Street Capital.

This acquisition follows Apex Group’s longstanding partnership with PFS through the use of PFS-PAXUS and will expand use of the technology platform to enhance the delivery of timely, accurate and independent portfolio accounting, fund and investor reporting, the firm said.

Founded in 1999, PFS supports the investment fund clients via its core PFS-PAXUS product. PFS-PAXUS is a specialist accounting and administration software that fully supports the administration of all manner of open and closed ended traditional and alternative funds, including hedge funds and private equity investment vehicles.

PFS-PAXUS is used by more than 4,000 individual users at over 100 clients managing over $1 trillion of assets under management.

PFS-PAXUS integrates all the processes that are normally performed on multiple systems, including: securities portfolio, allocation system, general ledger, fee calculation, share registry, investor communications and web portal. Benefits of this approach include increased efficiency, reduced risk of error, faster valuations, a simplified technical landscape and the ability to support complex investment structures whilst significantly reducing IT costs.

The expanded product offering will allow Apex Group to act as a single-source provider of services across the entire life cycle of client funds for both existing and acquired PFS clients.

Peter Hughes, Founder and CEO of Apex Group comments: “Through a combination of partnerships with award winning technology providers, as well as our own market leading platforms, we deliver high quality solutions to asset managers globally. PFS-PAXUS is a proven global technology solution for the funds industry that enables our clients and third parties to automate all fund administration components on a single platform. Bringing PFS-PAXUS into the Group will help us to continue exceeding client expectations by delivering a single-source solution which improves administrative efficiencies, implements essential controls, and manages our clients’ operational risk.”

On the other hand, Paul Kneen, CEO of PFS further comments: “PFS is dedicated to providing a first-class global business solution to its clients and we are excited to be joining Apex Group which shares these core principles and objectives. My team and I are looking forward to deepening our relationship with Apex Group, an important existing client of PFS, and a supportive home as we continue to enhance and grow our market leading offering.”

James Scott, Partner at Pollen Street Capital, adds: “Since investing in the business just over two years ago, PFS has gone from strength to strength, recording strong organic growth, recurring revenue and margins. This is a great outcome for PFS and the transaction represents the first exit in our flagship Fund IV. Pollen Street is looking forward to continuing its support of Paul and his excellent management team as well as working alongside Apex Group for the next phase of PFS’s growth.”

Terms of the transaction are undisclosed.

AXA IM Appoints Olivier Paquier as Global Head of ETF Sales

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Photo courtesyOlivier Paquier, Global Head of ETF Sales of AXA IM

Olivier Paquier is appointed Global Head of ETF Sales of AXA IM, effective immediately.

Paquier has extensive experience in ETF sales from State Street as Head of SPDR ETF distribution in France, Monaco, Spain and Portugal, and then within J.P. Morgan Asset Management where he built their successful active ETF business in EMEA.

In his missions within AXA IM, he will be supported by an ETF business manager and 9 salespeople worldwide who will extend their expertise of selling the AXA IM product range with ETF instruments. Paquier reports to Nicolas-Louis Guille-Biel, Global Head of ETF & Product strategy.

Following the launch of its ETF platform last September , AXA IM continues its journey to build a significant ETF business and grow its footprint on this market.

The AXA IM ETF platform is now centred around three pillars:
1. Products and Capital Markets, with a dedicated product developer and two Capital Markets officers.
2. Investment and Research insights, with ETF portfolio managers getting insights from AXA IM’s Core investment teams.
3. Sales and marketing, with Olivier as new Global Head of ETF Sales, an ETF business manager, a dedicated marketing manager as well as 9 identified salespeople with a global reach.

Commenting on the arrival of Olivier Paquier and the growing ETF platform, Hans Stoter, Global Head of AXA IM Core, said: “We have adopted an entrepreneurial spirit to develop our ETF platform and deliver the project in house, leveraging our internal capabilities with people from different teams, as well as additional skills with external recruitments to continuously strengthen our ETF community. We have now reinforced our ETF distribution value chain and are delighted to welcome Olivier, one of the most recognised ETF professionals in the industry.

FDS Signs Agreement with Polar Capital to Extend their Reach into US Offshore and Latin America

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Fund Distribution Services (FDS) has reached an  agreement with Polar Capital to offer their strategies into the US Offshore and Latin American market. 

Polar Capital is an experienced, investment-led, active fund manager. The company prides itself  on its collegiate and meritocratic culture where capacity of investment strategies is managed to enhance and protect performance. Since its foundation in 2001, it has grown steadily and  currently has 15 autonomous investment teams managing specialist, active and capacity  constrained portfolios, with combined AUM of $22.4 billion (as of December 31, 2022), said the firm in a press release. 

“Polar Capital’s distribution strategy is growth with diversification, by both client segment and  geography, and we see significant opportunities outside of our home markets of the UK and  Continental Europe. Our approach to wider global expansion is both targeted and measured.  We are delighted to be partnering with FDS in the US offshore and Latin American markets,” said Iain Evans, Head of Global Distribution, Polar Capital.   

In addition, Evans told that FDS team “brings a wealth of experience and long-standing investor relationships in these markets, and they are the perfect complement to work alongside our existing North American distribution team.”

“Partnering with Polar gives our clients access to highly skilled, specialized managers that  deliver an experience that you would expect from a strong boutique, investment led, organization,” added Lars Jensen, Managing Partner FDS.

Fed Unveils Pilot Plan for Banks to Manage their Financial Risks from Climate Change

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The Federal Reserve Board provided additional details on how its pilot climate scenario analysis exercise will be conducted and the information on risk management practices that will be gathered over the course of the exercise.

As described in the instruction document, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley y Wells Fargo will analyze the impact of scenarios for both physical and transition risks related to climate change on specific assets in their portfolios, the release said.

To support the exercise’s goals of deepening understanding of climate risk-management practices and building capacity to identify, measure, monitor, and manage climate-related financial risks, the Board will gather qualitative and quantitative information over the course of the pilot, including details on governance and risk management practices, measurement methodologies, risk metrics, data challenges, and lessons learned.

“The Fed has narrow, but important, responsibilities regarding climate-related financial risks – to ensure that banks understand and manage their material risks, including the financial risks from climate change,” Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr said. “The exercise we are launching today will advance the ability of supervisors and banks to analyze and manage emerging climate-related financial risks.”

The pilot exercise includes physical risk scenarios with different levels of severity affecting residential and commercial real estate portfolios in the Northeastern United States and directs each bank to consider the impact of additional physical risk shocks for their real estate portfolios in another region of the country. For transition risks, banks will consider the impact on corporate loans and commercial real estate portfolios using a scenario based on current policies and one based on reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

These scenarios are not forecasts or policy prescriptions, but can be used to build understanding of climate-related financial risks.

The Board anticipates publishing insights gained from the pilot at an aggregate level, reflecting what has been learned about climate risk management practices and how insights from scenario analysis will help identify potential risks and promote effective risk management practices. No firm-specific information will be released.

Climate scenario analysis is distinct and separate from bank stress tests. The Board’s stress tests are designed to assess whether large banks have enough capital to continue lending to households and businesses during a severe recession. The pilot climate scenario analysis exercise, on the other hand, is exploratory in nature and does not have capital consequences.