London skyline. Guggenheim Securities Agrees to Acquire Lazard Capital Markets' London Operations
Guggenheim Securities, the investment banking and capital markets division of Guggenheim Partners, has announced the execution of a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the London operations of Lazard Capital Markets (LCM), expanding the firm’s international presence. Consummation of the transaction is subject to approval by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The acquisition, upon approval, would allow Guggenheim to conduct a range of sales and trading operations, with an initial focus on European corporate and sovereign debt and U.S. and foreign equities.
Guggenheim plans to operate the business under the new name of Guggenheim Securities International Ltd.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to extend Guggenheim’s products and services to clients in Europe,” said Alan Schwartz, Executive Chairman of Guggenheim Partners and CEO of Guggenheim Securities. “At a time when many European clients are looking to restructure and find funding in the capital markets, we believe that the client-focus partnership model that has served us so well in building our business in the United States will allow us to extend our growth throughout Europe, and this is an important step toward that.”
As part of the acquisition, Guggenheim is welcoming LCM’s team of 10 professionals, led by Duncan Riefler, who ran the LCM London office. He will report to Ronald Iervolino, Senior Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income, based in New York.
“My colleagues and I are looking forward to joining the Guggenheim team and providing the same world-class client service in Europe that has long been the firm’s hallmark in the rest of the world,” Mr. Riefler said.
Joining Mr. Riefler from LCM are David Corney, Phillip Bloch, Jay Larkin, Nannette Bax-Stevens, Piero Greco, Samir Patel and Alison Kilsby. In addition, Dennis McKenna and Tomas Mannion will also be joining the platform in high-yield trading and research roles, respectively, marking the start of the growth commitment from Guggenheim.
Before joining LCM, Mr. Riefler was a co-founder and partner of Sonas Partners in London, an independent brokerage focused on trading fixed-income securities. Prior to that, he had a 19-year career at Merrill Lynch with a number of roles within fixed income in New York and London. He holds a BA from Denison University.
Phil Webster, senior portfolio manager for the European Equities team at Aberdeen AM. Courtesy photo. It’s Time to Play Defense in the European Stock Market: Downside Risks May Outweigh the Upside Potential
Since the crisis of 2008 left valuations at a minimum, it has been highly fertile ground for investing in European equities, and in any case, they have been the trendy asset in portfolios since last January. But the momentum is losing steam due to the high valuations achieved, at least in some names, the disappointing macroeconomic data, the lower than expected profits, some geopolitical risks, such as the conflict in Russia, and the impact of future interest rate hikes in the USA, although these could be offset by the accommodative attitude of the ECB.
Aware that downside risks may outweigh the upside potential, Phil Webster, senior portfolio manager, and Angus Tester, manager and analyst for the European Equities team at Aberdeen AM, opt for caution and consider that this is a favorable time to invest from a defensive position, which they embody in a concentrated portfolio of about 36 names with quality DNA in their European Equity flagship strategy.
“There is still much interest in this asset class, and we are cautiously optimistic about growth in the continent, but valuations are too high in some cases, even generating some bubbles, and profit growth should have to be evidenced in order to justify those numbers”, Webster explained in an interview with Funds Society, adding that the deterioration of expected profits in European companies, something which could continue to happen, hasn’t surprised him.
In this environment, in which investors are also more cautious after years of earnings, both in the bond and in the stock markets, he believes that a good answer might lie in quality assets. “Our fund has done worse than the index in recent months in the absence of more cyclical stocks that have been puffed up in these recent months of generalized increases,” he explains. But now the situation could begin to change and the market could begin to reward higher quality values, the most stable businesses. Now that there is cause for concerns and uncertainties about political issues and geopolitical crisis, among other things, “the time is right for quality assets, the markets do not like uncertainty,” he added. And, in that regard, he believes there will be volatility. A volatility, which, in any case, will give them the opportunity to invest selectively.
Cautious Optimism
They are cautiously optimistic with regard to European macroeconomic conditions, believing that there will be growth, but also problems that have not been solved, and that there are still major challenges ahead that will take time. They explain that this is not an insurmountable problem for investing in the asset class, however, due to the geographical diversification of companies, in fact, in their portfolio, firms have a balanced exposure to different markets, divided between North America (23%), Asia (22%), and Europe (36%, including UK), along with other emerging markets. They explain that, “the portfolio is well balanced in terms of countries, sectors and other factors.” The reason for its concentration, in about 36 positions at present, from more than 50 in the past, is the confidence and conviction that they want to place on their stakes, which they select after a thorough analysis which requires meeting with the companies. The team, consisting of 17 managers who are also analysts, and who manage different strategies of European and British equities for Aberdeen AM, holds 700 such meetings.
The European stock market’s flagship portfolio currently gives greater weight to countries like the United Kingdom or Switzerland (also by the currency effect), but is the result of a fundamental analysis rather than of the country itself. Names such as Linde, Roche, Rolls Royce, Nestle, Unilever, Nordea Bank, and Prudential, appear amongst the top 10 and are selected using criteria such as the fact of having a competitive advantage and the power to set prices, strong balance sheets, a clear business strategy that aims towards growth, a good management team, and a commitment to deliver value to shareholders. According to Tester, a good dividend policy is also a good sign for the evolution of the business.
Positive about Spain, and yet investing little in that country
As far as Spain is concerned, both managers feel positive regarding the last reforms, particularly in contrast to countries like Italy or France, although they warn about the possibility that reforms will slow down due to the general elections, expected for late next year, and the, as yet unresolved, debt problems. But this, “optimism to a certain degree”, is not enough to fill their portfolios with securities from that country, which don’t hold any positions in their European stock strategy, although in the past they had BBVA and names such as Amadeus in some portfolios. In the small caps portfolio, they do bet on names such as Viscofán or Barón de Ley.
Foto: Carlescs79. Northern Trust anuncia cambios en su grupo global de Family Office
Northern Trust has appointed Lesley Hodgson as senior director of its Global Family and Private Investment Offices (GFO) group in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Based in London, Hodgson will manage the client service teams in both London and Guernsey and will also support business development across the region. She will report to Daniel Lindley, managing director of GFO for EMEA.
Hodgson, who joined Northern Trust in 1995, was most recently managing director of Northern Trust’s GFO business in Guernsey where she was responsible for oversight of client servicing and fiduciary and asset administration in the context of Northern Trust’s offshore client offering.
“Lesley has been instrumental in developing our Guernsey business and we are pleased to appoint her to this broader role,” said Lindley. “Through the structuring of her new role we not only maximize efficiencies and best practices across our Guernsey and London offices, but ensure we are well positioned for future growth.”
The GFO group is a boutique practice within Northern Trust’s Wealth Management business. Established over 30 years ago, it provides customised solutions to ultra-high net worth families, their family offices and private investment offices. It currently provides asset servicing, fiduciary, investment advisory and credit services to more than 375 families and their family offices across the globe, with average assets under custody per client in excess of US$850 million.
BNP Paribas has announced the appointment of Yann Gérardin as Head of Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB). In this role, he will have responsibility for implementing the 2014-2016 development plan and continuing the process of adapting CIB to its environment.
Currently Head of Global Equities and Commodity Derivatives (GECD), he will take on hisnew role on 1 October 2014, reporting to Alain Papiasse.
Alain Papiasse, Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the BNP Paribas Group, in addition to supporting the development of CIB, will represent the Group General Management in North America, particularly in terms of implementing the remediation plan and new regulatory requirements. With his wealth of experience and knowledge of the region, he will also help reinforce coverage for large clients in order to support BNP Paribas’ North American development plan.
Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, Director and Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas, said: “In asking Yann Gérardin to take on these new responsibilities, I have full confidence in his managerial capability, which has been ably demonstrated within GECD since these activities were established. He has helped make BNP Paribas GECD a global leader in theequity derivatives industry. I would particularly like to thank Alain Papiasse for the key role he has played in successfully developing BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking since 2009. His commitment will be a major asset in North America, a region of strategic importance to our Group.”
As greater numbers of institutional investors turn to equity strategies that capture style factors such as volatility, value, momentum or yield, most continue to lack clarity on the factor exposures across their combined equity portfolios, according to new research by Northern Trust Asset Management.
A survey of 139 global institutional investors found that just 18 percent of global investors said they were “very certain” of the actual risk factor exposure across their listed equity portfolios, while 51 percent were only “moderately certain” and 31 percent were either “fairly uncertain” or unaware of their exposures.
Based on the survey results and in-depth analysis of three pension funds in the United Kingdom, Europe and United States, the study finds that institutional investors incorporating a wide range of active and passive equity strategies in their overall portfolio end up with a neutral factor exposure – despite intended tilts to one or more factors – so that portfolios do not always reflect the investors’ goals and objectives.
The study demonstrates how significant allocations to factor-based equity strategies would achieve the investors’ objectives more effectively and includes case studies of four “early adopter” institutions that have successfully implemented factor-based strategies as a guide for others considering the approach.
“Interest in the blurring space between active and passive management continues to grow, as many investors are less concerned with beating a broad market benchmark and more interested in meeting their particular objective,” said Matthew Peron, Managing Director of Global Equity at Northern Trust Asset Management. “While our research identifies some of the challenges to risk factor investing, it also validates our ‘Engineered Equity’ solutions, which aim to capture exposure to specific factors, either individually or in combination, to meet investors’ specific goals. Engineering exposure to certain factors, while engineering out unintended exposures, are both equally critical to achieving objectives.”
Survey: Global Investors on Risk Factors
Seeking to understand how global institutional investors are using factor-based strategies, Northern Trust Asset Management surveyed 139 investors in the United States, Europe, United Kingdom, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Approximately 45 percent had more than US$1 billion in assets under management. Of those surveyed:
51 percent said they employ factor tilt strategies in their listed equity portfolios.
The most widely used risk factors were value (33.9%), quality, size, momentum (each 16.9%) and volatility (13.9%).
Within their listed equity portfolios, across managers, the top investor concern was “overexposure to certain factors/regions,” followed by “absolute volatility” and “unexpected factor bias within the overall combined exposure” and “tracking error versus benchmark.”
To assess overall factor exposure, 57 percent use an internal team, 17 percent use consultants and 6 percent use other resources, while 20 percent either don’t assess or don’t consider it a priority.
“If the key concern is overexposure to a certain factor or region, being able to look across the portfolio to understand how that exposure looks is imperative,” said John Krieg, Managing Director of Institutional Distribution at Northern Trust. “The fact that fewer than one in five respondents felt certain of their factor exposures shows the difficulty of monitoring a large, complex institutional portfolio.”
Qualitative Analysis: 3 Pension Funds
The study includes an in-depth examination of the equity portfolios of three substantial, experienced pension funds in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. The funds had between four and 25 equity portfolios, tracked up to nine equity benchmarks and employed factor-based strategies to reach investment objectives such as value, low volatility or liability matching. However, Northern Trust’s analysis showed the actual factor tilt for each pension fund was neutral.
“What we found was that, regardless of the approach used to define the asset allocation – asset-liability management, core-satellite, tactical or strategic – the portfolios didn’t always reflect the investors’ goals, objective and intended exposures,” Krieg said. “In each case, the analysis showed how the replacement of some active and passive strategies with an Engineered Equity solution like Northern Trust’s Quality Dividend Focus or Quality Value Strategy would have increased the desired exposures.”
Krieg added: “In general, taking an experimental approach to factor-based investing does not produce the desired results. Investors have a greater likelihood of success if they make a substantial commitment to these strategies.”
Learning from Early Adopters
As a road map to implementation of factor-based strategies, the study describes the successful experience of four large institutional funds in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Taiwan with combined assets under management of more than US$375 billion. While all four were at different stages of adoption and complexity, the study found three key takeaways that can be applied for any investor:
Taking stock of what is currently in your portfolio before making any future investment decisions is crucial to success.
Failing to base future investment decisions on a strong understanding of your current portfolio can lead to unintended bias or cancel out intended bias.
Using Engineered Equity strategies in your portfolios can provide more risk-efficient and cost-effective outcomes while still achieving your performance goals.
“For all four successful investors, understanding their current portfolios was an essential first step to making investment decisions that achieved their intended exposures while avoiding unintended bias,” Peron said. “Our analysis showed that to realize noticeable results, you need to make a deliberate and substantial commitment to Engineered Equity strategies.”
The white paper, entitled Through the Looking Glass: Portfolio Truths. Factor Solutions, is the latest in a series, “The Equity Imperative,” that has previously established the trend toward equity strategies that aim to meet specific investment objectives beyond broad market exposure. In addition to industry surveys, The Equity Imperative series includes research examining the principles underpinning Engineered Equity at Northern Trust Asset Management. The research series and related information can be found at this link.
Liontrust Asset Management has recruited James Beddall to work alongside Jonathan Hughes-Morgan as co-head of International Sales. Liontrust is in the process of setting up a Branch Office in Luxembourg, where James Beddall is based, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals.
James Beddall joins Jonathan Hughes-Morgan in selling Liontrust’s Dublin range of funds through global banks, private banks, multi-managers and institutional investors internationally, with the primary focus being on Continental Europe. He will market the funds in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the Benelux and Nordic regions. Jonathan Harbottle, Head of Institutional Sales, will retain responsibility for some clients in continental Europe.
James Beddall, who has 17 years of experience in international sales, has joined Liontrust from F&C Investments where he was Head of International Wholesale Sales. He moved to Thames River Capital in 2007, which was then acquired by F&C in September 2010.
Prior to Thames River, James Beddall was Vice President and Director (from January 2003) of Credit Suisse Asset Management from 2000 to 2007. He joined CSAM to set up the fund sales and distribution in the Benelux region and later on took on responsibility for France, Spain, the UK, the Nordic region and Eastern Europe.
“I am excited about the challenge and opportunity of helping to grow international sales at Liontrust,” says James Beddall. “I was keen to join an asset management business with the desire and potential to grow significantly its international business.
“Liontrust has a strong range of funds and fund managers and we believe there will be demand for the Global Credit and Asia Income teams in particular. I am also looking forward to working again with Jonathan.”
John Ions, Chief Executive of Liontrust, says: “Expanding our sales effort in Continental Europe is the logical next step after the very strong growth in AuM we have generated in the UK over the past four years.
“With the recruitment of James, we have put together a very strong sales team to market our funds internationally. We are also actively looking for more fund management teams that will appeal to the Wholesale market in Continental Europe.”
Foto: Iñakideluis, Flickr, Creative Commons. Encaje de bolillos
The Federal Reserve Board recently reported that almost half of Americans have not begun planning for retirement. Wilde Wealth Management Group is teaming up with Retirement Consultants to change that, expanding their reach across Arizona to encourage more corporate employees to prepare for retirement.
Both firms are licensed to advise clients on 401(K) accounts in addition to other financial services, and many of their clients work for major Arizona employers such as CenturyLink, Intel, Raytheon, Tucson Electric, and the Arizona universities. Both firms are hosting information sessions and meeting with employees individually at their workplaces to inspire them and help them plan.
Trevor Wildeof Wilde Wealth, based in the Phoenix area, says, “If your employer offers 401(K) matching, that’s a no-brainer. It’s a great place to start. From there, we personalize the rest of your financial plans to prepare for your individual needs and goals. Having a consistent review process with each client is a vital element of our practice.”
Michael Santoroof Retirement Consultants, based in the Tucson area, says, “As they say, most people don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan. For many people, their employer-sponsored retirement plan comprises the largest portion of their nest egg, yet they don’t give it the care and thought it deserves. Most don’t even realize how many choices they have. Then, as employees enter their 50s, it’s like the red zone in football—those last 20 yards where you want to focus on a strategic plan and avoid fumbling. It is critical to plan, coordinating all your financial decisions to work as a team for that final run.”
The Federal Reserve Board, in its latest annual “Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households” reported, “Almost half of respondents had not planned financially for retirement. . . . 31 percent of respondents reported having no retirement savings or pension, including 19 percent of those ages 55 to 64, and 25 percent didn’t know how they will pay their expenses in retirement.”
Diego Besga, partner at Team Real Estate Development. Courtesy photo. Cities North and West of Miami Are Attractive Real Estate Alternatives
The real estate industry in South Florida is experiencing a very sweet moment which is evident by the numerous projects approved and under development in the area, where cities like Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale are attracting prospective buyers looking for prices cheaper than what is currently available in Miami, said Diego Besga, COO and Business Development Director at Team Real Estate Development (TRED).
Markets emerging around Miami, such as in Hollywood, represent an opportunity for Team Real Estate, Besga pointed out. That is why they have leapt into investing in land in the heart of Hollywood, near the city’s main commercial area of shops and restaurants, and in close proximity to where the H3 Hollywood complex, a 15 storey building with 247 units, including studios and one, two, and three bedroom apartments, is being built.
“There is a group of buyers who don’t have access to the Miami market due to the prices that are being generated in the city.” Besga explained that these are buyers with budgets of less than $ 400,000 but who are looking for similar alternatives, and there are other cities in the south of the state where such properties are available.
Almost 50% of H3 Hollywood is already sold and buyers include mainly Argentines, Colombians, Russians, and Venezuelans, followed by locals and Canadians. To Besga, the price is very attractive at under $300 per square foot, while, according to data from Zillow Web which specializes in United States real estate, the average price in Miami currently stands at $379.
According to Zillow, the real estate prices in Miami rose by 10.6% last year, and are expected to rise this year by another 2.1%. Compare the $379 per square foot average price in Miami to the $159 per square foot average price in the metropolitan area of Miami-Fort Lauderdale. An average home in Miami is priced around $388,350, although the average selling price is $323,500, while the average rent is $2,200 per month in Miami and $ 1,800 in Fort Lauderdale.
For Besga, everything emerging north of Miami and west of downtown, as well as Miami’s Brickell area, is starting to become an attractive product, especially if the price is right.
As to whether Miami could be incubating a new real estate bubble, such as that suffered in the 2008 crisis, Besga emphasized that the situation is not the same. “I see a very strong market, for many years ahead. I do not think a new bubble is being created, amongst other things, because of the deposits required,” he pointed out.
Currently, most presale operations require deposits of 50% for closing, while a few years ago they were 10%.
Although Besga does believe that there will be a small price adjustment downward, he is convinced that nothing like 2008 will happen, because Miami is considered, especially by Latin Americans, as a safe place for protecting their wealth, and where it will continue generating value. “Prices are a little high, but not for a situation like that of 2008 to occur,” he said.
Team Real Estate Development (TRED) is a firm consisting of four Argentine partners, and which operates mainly in Argentina, and in the states of Florida and Georgia. Apart from the H3 Hollywood project, they have a wide portfolio of properties in both states, including rental properties, offices, hotels, and off-plan developments. In Fort Lauderdale they have a new residential development on the drawing board, which they hope to start building in early 2015.
S&P Dow Jones Indices and RobecoSAM, the investment specialist focused exclusively on Sustainability Investing, announced the results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices review. This year marks the 15 year anniversary of the DJSI.
Launched in 1999, the DJSI World is the first global index to track the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide based on an analysis of financially material economic, environmental, and social factors. The three largest additions (by free-float market capitalization) to the DJSI World this year include Amgen Inc, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and GlaxoSmithKline PLC and deletions include Bank of America Corp, General Electric Co and Schlumberger Ltd.
Guido Giese, Head of Indices, RobecoSAM: “We are proud to celebrate 15 years of providing investors with sophisticated benchmarks for corporate sustainability. Since 1999, we have helped investors realize the financial materiality of sustainability and companies continue to tell us that the DJSI provides an excellent tool to measure the effectiveness of their sustainability strategies. In 15 years, the total number of companies we assess has more than quadrupled. We have also developed new sustainability benchmarks for investors such as country and regional indices.”
David Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the S&P Dow Jones Index Committee: “Both the importance and the understanding of sustainability has grown dramatically over the past decade and a half. During that time the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices have been established as the leading benchmark in the field. S&P Dow Jones Indices is pleased to work with RobecoSAM in combining S&P DJI’s experience with indices and RobecoSAM’s expertise in assessing corporate sustainability programs.”
RobecoSAM recognizes the following companies for being in the DJSI World all 15 years:
The DJSI follow a best-in-class approach, including companies across all industries that outperform their peers in numerous sustainability metrics. Each year over 3,000 companies, including 800 companies from emerging markets, are invited to participate in RobecoSAM’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment, which provides an in-depth analysis of financially material economic, environmental, and social practices.
Following this assessment, RobecoSAM identifies the top company in each of the 24 industry groups (according to GICS):
Daniel Ivascyn, nuevo CIO de PIMCO. Foto cedida. Sensación de alivio y emoción “abrumadora” en PIMCO tras la salida de Bill Gross
PIMCO has elected Daniel Ivascyn to serve as Group Chief Investment Officer (“Group CIO”), succeeding William H. Gross who has left the firm. In addition, the firm appointed Andrew Balls, CIO Global; Mark Kiesel, CIO Global Credit; Virginie Maisonneuve, CIO Equities; Scott Mather, CIO U.S. Core Strategies; and Mihir Worah, CIO Real Return and Asset Allocation. Douglas Hodge, PIMCO’s Chief Executive Officer, and Lew “Jay” Jacobs, President, will continue to serve as the firm’s senior executive leadership team, spearheading PIMCO’s business strategy, client service and the firm’s operation.
The firm also appointed Mr. Mather, Mr. Kiesel and Mr. Worah as Portfolio Managers for the Total Return Fund. Saumil Parikh, Mohsen Fahmi, and Mr. Ivascyn will serve as Portfolio Managers for the Unconstrained Bond Fund. As Group CIO, Mr. Ivascyn will continue to oversee the firm’s alternatives strategies, structured credit, and income strategies. Chris Dialynas, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, will return to the firm from sabbatical during the fourth quarter of 2014. These changes and appointments are effective immediately.
Said Mr. Hodge: “As part of our responsibilities to our clients, employees and parent, PIMCO has been developing a succession plan for some time to ensure that the firm is well prepared to manage a seamless leadership transition in its Portfolio Management team. We have passed the torch of leadership to a team of investors who are among the very best in the investment management industry. They are seasoned, highly skilled professionals who embody PIMCO’s values and have established track records of delivering value to clients.”
Mr. Hodge continued: “Today’s announcement marks the completion of our portfolio management succession process. These appointments are a continuation of the structure that PIMCO established earlier in 2014 and they reflect our long-held belief that the best approach for PIMCO’s clients and our firm is to evolve our investment leadership structure to a team of seasoned, highly skilled investors overseeing all areas of PIMCO’s investment activities.”
Said Mr. Ivascyn: “We have assembled a team of world-class investors over the course of many years, and established a time-tested top-down, bottom-up investment process that will guide our investment philosophy and continue to serve our clients well into the future. Our CIO’s and I are fully committed to consistently deliver to our clients the investment excellence that they have rightly come to expect of us.”
Under this leadership structure, Mr. Balls and Mr. Worah have additional managerial responsibility for PIMCO’s Portfolio Management group and trade floor activities globally. Mr. Balls will oversee Portfolio Management in Europe and Asia-Pacific, and Mr. Worah will oversee Portfolio Management in the U.S.
Said Michael Diekmann, Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Group: “Since becoming part of the Allianz Group in 2000, PIMCO has grown enormously and contributed consistently to Allianz’s success. We join our PIMCO colleagues in recognizing Bill Gross for his accomplishments over the 43 years since PIMCO’s founding. We wish Bill good luck. The management and investment structure put in place in January as well as the thorough succession planning gives us complete confidence in PIMCO’s investment and executive leadership team.”
Said the Independent Trustees for PIMCO’s fixed income and equity mutual funds and the Chairman of PIMCO’s closed-end funds: ”We are “fully supportive of PIMCO, its executive leadership and its portfolio management teams. They have our complete confidence.”
Mr. Ivascyn added: “We have a deep bench of talent with extensive investment and leadership experience, including more than 240 portfolio managers globally, and our outstanding team around the world gives us the scale, talent, expertise and commitment to manage this transition. We will continue to add and promote talent at all levels to help us drive our firm forward.”
Professional biographies (in alphabetical order):
Andrew Balls Mr. Balls is CIO Global, a managing director in the London office and a member of the Investment Committee. He is head of European portfolio management, leading PIMCO’s European investment team (which is based in London and Munich), and he also oversees PIMCO’s investment teams in the Asia Pacific region. He manages a range of global and European portfolios, including PIMCO’s Global Advantage strategy, combining developed and emerging fixed income markets. Mr. Balls was previously a portfolio manager in Newport Beach and the firm’s global strategist. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2006, he spent eight years at the Financial Times as an economics correspondent and columnist in London, New York and Washington, DC. He has 16 years of investment experience and holds a bachelor’s degree from Oxford and a master’s degree from Harvard University. He was a lecturer in economics at Keble College, Oxford.
Chris Dialynas Mr. Dialynas is a managing director in the Newport Beach office, a portfolio manager, and a member of PIMCO’s Investment Committee. He has written extensively and lectured on the topic of fixed-income investing. Mr. Dialynas served on the editorial board of The Journal of Portfolio Management and was a member of the Fixed Income Curriculum Committee of the Association for Investment Management and Research. He has 36 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He received his undergraduate degree from Pomona College. He joined PIMCO in 1980.
Mohsen Fahmi Mr. Fahmi is a managing director and generalist portfolio manager in the Newport Beach office, focusing on global fixed income assets. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2014, he was with Moore Capital Management, most recently as a senior portfolio manager and previously as chief operating officer. In London earlier in his career, he was co-head of bond and currency proprietary trading at Tokai Bank Europe, head of leveraged investment at Salomon Brothers and executive director of proprietary trading at Goldman Sachs. Prior to this, he was a proprietary trader for J.P. Morgan in both New York and London, and he also spent seven years as an investment officer at the World Bank in Washington, DC. He has 30 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from Stanford University. He received a master’s degree in civil engineering from the Ohio State University and an undergraduate degree from Ain Shams University, Cairo.
Daniel J. Ivascyn Mr. Ivascyn is Group CIO, and a managing director in the Newport Beach office. He is the head of the mortgage credit portfolio management team and a lead portfolio manager for PIMCO’s credit hedge fund and mortgage opportunistic strategies. Mr. Ivascyn is a member of PIMCO’s Executive Committee and a member of the Investment Committee. Morningstar named him Fixed-Income Fund Manager of the Year (U.S.) for 2013. Prior to joining PIMCO in 1998, he worked at Bear Stearns in the asset-backed securities group, as well as T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments. He has 23 years of investment experience and holds an MBA in analytic finance from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Occidental College.
Mark R. Kiesel Mr. Kiesel is CIO Global Credit and a managing director in the Newport Beach office. He is a member of the PIMCO Investment Committee, a generalist portfolio manager and the global head of corporate bond portfolio management, with oversight for the firm’s investment grade, high yield, bank loan, municipal and insurance business as well as credit research. Morningstar named him Fixed-Income Fund Manager of the Year in 2012 and a finalist in 2010. He has written extensively on the topic of global credit markets, founded the firm’s Global Credit Perspectives publication and regularly appears in the financial media. He joined PIMCO in 1996 and previously served as PIMCO’s global head of investment grade corporate bonds and as a senior credit analyst. He has 22 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan.
Virginie Maisonneuve, CFA Ms. Maisonneuve is CIO Equities, managing director, global head of equities and portfolio manager based in the London office. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2014, she was head of global and international equities at Schroders plc. Previously, she was co-CIO and director at Clay Finlay, a portfolio manager at State Street Research and Management, and a portfolio manager at Batterymarch Financial Management. She has 27 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from the Ecole Superieure Libre des Sciences Commerciales Appliquees (ESLSCA) in Paris. She also holds a master’s degree in Mandarin Chinese from Dauphine University in Paris and an undergraduate degree from People’s University (Renda) in Beijing.
Scott A. Mather Mr. Mather is CIO U.S. Core Strategies, and a managing director in the Newport Beach office and head of global portfolio management. Previously, he led portfolio management in Europe, managed euro and pan-European portfolios and worked closely with many Allianz-related companies. He also served as a managing director of Allianz Global Investors KAG. Prior to these roles, Mr. Mather co-headed PIMCO’s mortgage- and asset-backed securities team. Prior to joining PIMCO in 1998, he was a fixed income trader specializing in mortgage-backed securities at Goldman Sachs in New York. He has 20 years of investment experience and holds a master’s degree in engineering, as well as undergraduate degrees, from the University of Pennsylvania.
Saumil H. Parikh, CFA Mr. Parikh is a managing director in the Newport Beach office and generalist portfolio manager. Mr. Parikh is also a member of the PIMCO Investment Committee and leads the firm’s cyclical economic forums. He previously served as a specialist portfolio manager on the short-term, mortgage and global portfolio management teams. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2000, Mr. Parikh was a financial economist and market strategist at UBS Warburg. He has 15 years of investment experience and holds undergraduate degrees in economics and biology from Grinnell College.
Mihir P. Worah Mr. Worah is CIO Return and Asset Allocation, and a managing director in the Newport Beach office, a portfolio manager, and head of the real return and multi-asset portfolio management teams. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2001, he was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, where he built models to explain the difference between matter and anti-matter. In 2012 he co-authored “Intelligent Commodity Indexing,” published by McGraw-Hill. He has 12 years of investment experience and holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Chicago.
