Monday, June 11, 2018
GAM Investments plans to open office in Australia
- Alex Zaika hired from BlackRock as managing director Australia to build local team
- GAM to add local investment strategies available to Australian investors
GAM Investments, one of the world’s leading independent, active asset managers, today announced its intention to open an office in Sydney. The new office will expand the Group’s global presence to 14 countries. GAM manages AUD 5.2 billion for Australian institutional and wholesale clients out of AUD 221.0 billion in group assets under management as at 31 March 2018.
GAM hired Alex Zaika as managing director Australia, based in Sydney. Alex will report to Rossen Djounov, managing director, head of Asia, based in Hong Kong. He will build a team of dedicated professionals for the Australian market, enhancing GAM’s local support infrastructure and servicing capabilities to further develop and deepen relationships with Australian clients.
Alex joins GAM on July 23 from BlackRock. He has over 20 years’ experience in Australian financial services covering institutional, wholesale and retail market segments across derivatives, asset management and investment platforms. Prior to BlackRock, he has held various senior positions at Barclays Capital and Macquarie Bank across both institutional and retail segments.
Rossen Djounov said: “The strengthening of our distribution team in Australia underlines our commitment to provide the best service to our clients, meeting their needs in the ever-changing market environment. I am very excited to welcome Alex to the team.”
Having already been active in the alternative risk premia space last year, GAM has further plans to expand its local offering for Australian clients with new and existing strategies.
As part of the plans to expand in Australia, over an extended period GAM will transition out of its 14-year third-party marketing agreement with Sydney-based Shed Enterprises.
Tim Rainsford, group head of sales and distribution, said: “I would like to thank Shed, led by Sheridan Lee, for their great contribution over many years in helping GAM build a firm foundation for its Australian business. Australia is a very important and growing market for GAM, and the decision to expand our presence here is a natural consequence of our desire to be closer to our clients. Having a local team will enable GAM to better serve our clients’ needs and further expand our footprint in Australia, where we have already seen significant success marketing our absolute return bond and alternative risk premia strategies.”
For more information, please contact:
GAM Media Relations:
London: +44 (0) 207 393 86 51
Follow us on: Twitter, LinkedIn
About GAM
GAM is one of the world’s leading independent, pure-play asset managers. The company provides active investment solutions and products for institutions, financial intermediaries and private investors. The core investment business is complemented by private labelling services, which include management company and other support services to third-party asset managers. GAM employs over 900 people in 13 countries with investment centres in London, Cambridge, Zurich, Hong Kong, New York, Milan and Lugano. The investment managers are supported by an extensive global distribution network.
Headquartered in Zurich, GAM is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and is a component of the Swiss Market Index Mid (SMIM) with the symbol ‘GAM’. The Group has assets under management of CHF 162.3 billion (AUD 221.0 billion) as at 31 March 2018.
Disclaimer regarding forward-looking statements
This press release by GAM Holding AG (‘the Company’) includes forward-looking statements that reflect the Company’s intentions, beliefs or current expectations and projections about the Company’s future results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects, strategies, opportunities and the industry in which it operates. Forward-looking statements involve all matters that are not historical facts. The Company has tried to identify those forward-looking statements by using words such as ‘may’, ‘will’, ‘would’, ‘should’, ‘expect’, ‘intend’, ‘estimate’, ‘anticipate’, ‘project’, ‘believe’, ‘seek’, ‘plan’, ‘predict’, ‘continue’ and similar expressions. Such statements are made on the basis of assumptions and expectations which, although the Company believes them to be reasonable at this time, may prove to be erroneous.
These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause the Company’s actual results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects or opportunities, as well as those of the markets it serves or intends to serve, to differ materially from those expressed in, or suggested by, these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause those differences include, but are not limited to: changing business or other market conditions, legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments, general economic conditions, and the Company’s ability to respond to trends in the financial services industry. Additional factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update of, or revisions to, any forward-looking statements in this press release and any change in the Company’s expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based, except as required by applicable law or regulation.
GAM International Management Limited has filed a notice pursuant to ASIC Class Order CO 03/1099 and is exempt from registration in Australia.