Investment

Chart of the Month – Active Management is back!

by Cedric Dingens

Active Management is back!

Source: Notz Stucki

During March, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced authorities of a vast majority of countries to implement lockdowns and impose physical distancing measures to contain the spread of the virus. Almost all economic sectors have been literally shut down overnight. This unprecedented situation resulted in some of the most volatile financial markets on record and one of the fastest deleveraging event across all asset classes in history. From the peak of 12 February to the lows of 23 March global equity markets declined approximately 34% showing their worst quarterly performance since 1987.

Contrary to what happened during the financial crisis in 2008, central banks took actions very quickly through massive liquidity injections and governments put huge fiscal stimulus on the table. These measures helped stabilize financial markets but let equity investors with huge uncertainty to navigate markets going forward.

We believe that stock picking, a long/short approach and active exposure management should be favored with a focus on:

  • Countries which are able to manage both the health and economic crises better.
  • Sectors which will not be too much impacted by the economic crisis and become impaired.
  • Companies with high quality earnings and cash flows, strong balance sheets and low debt.

In this difficult environment, Lynx’s strategy to diversify assets across a limited range of independent, absolute return oriented money managers with interests aligned with their investors, worked well as the fund’s NAV declined only -6.9% compared to the equity market which lost -24.3% since the peak in February. This capital protection on the downside is even more remarkable considering that fact that Lynx captured almost 2/3 of the market upside with 40% of the market volatility in 2019. A good way to sleep well while remaining invested in markets?

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Antonio Mira
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Antonio Mira joined NS Partners in 2006 as Group Chief Financial Officer. He heads the corporate functions and is involved in coordinating and implementing the decisions of the Executive Committee.
An experienced bank auditor, Antonio started his career in 1995 with Arthur Andersen, where he worked for some 7 years before joining Ernst & Young in 2002 as a Senior Manager.
Antonio is a Swiss chartered accountant and a Business graduate of Lausanne University (HEC).

Sébastien Poiret
DEPUTY HEAD OF WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Sébastien Poiret joined NS Partners in 2008 and manages funds of hedge funds and private client mandates. He also oversees the development of the Group’s offices in Mauritius.

Prior to joining NS Partners, he served as a Trader, Head of Manager research and Portfolio Manager in the USA and Switzerland for a single hedge fund (1998-2004) and for Optimal (2004-2008), Grupo Santander’s fund-of-hedge funds operations.

Sébastien holds a Bachelor’s degree in Corporate Finance from the ESPEME Business School (EDHEC Group) and an MBA in Finance and Economics from the Institute of Business Administration, both in Nice.

Abir Oreibi
BOARD DIRECTOR

Abir Oreibi joined the Board of the NS Partners Group in 2018, where she brings her truly international perspective and rich experience.
Among many other ventures, Abir set up Alibaba.com’s first European office. After living and working in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok and London, she now lives in Geneva, where she is CEO of Lift Events, an organization that identifies technology trends, their business and social impact through the organization of events and open innovation programs. Issues related to the challenges and opportunities created by new technologies as well as the strategic responses from organizations are at the heart of Lift’s activities.
Abir holds a BA in Political Sciences from the University of Geneva. She is an investor, and member of advisory and innovation boards.

Romain Pidoux, CAIA

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Romain Pidoux joined NS Partners in 2011 and heads the Group’s Risk Management.
He started his financial career in 2005 as Head of Quantitative Analysis for a Swiss Family Office, selecting funds and managing portfolio allocation. In 2008, he switched to the alternative world and joined Peak Partners as hedge funds analyst.
He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and holds a Master’s degree in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies at Geneva University.

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