Citywire Bürgenstock 2026

Step inside Acadian’s investment engine as Portfolio Manager Tom Bilbé reveals how AI is reshaping the opportunity set for investors. In a live model demonstration, he will show how advanced techniques extract and enhance fundamental insights from vast, complex data, transforming them into actionable signals that power portfolio decisions and uncover winners. 

Workshop Objective:

Explore how a leading systematic manager leverages AI to transform complex data into actionable signals, enhancing stock selection and delivering differentiated alpha through a disciplined, research-driven portfolio construction process. 

Company Profile:

Founded in 1986, Acadian Asset Management is headquartered in Boston, with global affiliates in London, Singapore, and Sydney and has $177.5B in AUM as of December 31, 2025. Acadian has over three decades of experience managing systematic equity strategies and has expanded over the years into other asset classes including alternatives and fixed income. Building on the idea that markets are inefficient, Acadian was among the first firms in the world to apply data and technology to the systematic evaluation of global investments. The convergence of world-class talent, data-driven insights, and innovative tools enables Acadian to generate unique perspectives, research, and risk-adjusted returns that help its clients achieve their long-term investment goals. 

Today’s world is characterized by an emphasis on minimizing career risk through trackable processes and index-tracking. However, true performance is achieved not just by avoiding risk, but by seizing opportunities. Since inception on December 22, 2008, the ACATIS Datini Valueflex Fund has achieved an annualized return of 13.9%, with assets under management exceeding €817 million as of May 8, 2026.
 
The fund adopts a flexible, opportunistic mandate to capitalize on high-return potential across asset classes. The portfolio blends high-growth innovators and undervalued value plays with tactical allocations into corporate bonds and alternative assets—including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and inflation-linked certificates.

Workshop Objective: Laetitia-Zarah Gerbes highlights high-potential themes within the ACATIS Datini Valueflex Fund—such as AI, Infrastructure, and Healthcare—designed to help you unlock your full market potential.

Company Profile: ACATIS introduced value investing to Germany in 1994, inspired by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Hendrik Leber, founder and portfolio manager at ACATIS, is considered a pioneer of value investing in Germany. The strategy, based on the theories of Benjamin Graham, focuses on identifying undervalued companies through fundamental analysis of financial data. The premise is that markets are inefficient and that share prices often diverge from the real value of a company. ACATIS has further developed the classic approach into ‘Buffett 2.0’, which, in addition to fundamental analysis, also assesses the future sustainability of business models in order to meet the challenges posed by digitalisation and innovation.

ACATIS offers value investing in equity funds, mixed funds, value-sustainability funds and fixed income funds. Since October 2016, ACATIS has been offering value equity funds based on artificial intelligence. AuM €8,9 billion (22 April 2026).

Global equities remain a core building block of long-term portfolios. The question for investors is not whether to allocate, but how best to construct global equity exposure in a way that reflects individual objectives and risk tolerances.

The rise of passive investing has delivered low-cost market access but has also led to historically high concentration in the largest stocks. This has increased the risk that market drawdowns may be amplified if flows reverse. As a result, investors are increasingly reassessing how they build core equity allocations.

For investors considering active management, the choice often lies between fundamentally driven and systematic investment approaches. This workshop focuses on the latter. Justin Carr and Sophie Scott will discuss how disciplined, technology-enabled processes - combined with human judgment - can help identify long-term winners, manage risk, and support more resilient global equity portfolios, illustrated through real-world strategy examples.

Workshop Objectives:

1. Assess how systematic investing can be used to capture sustainable alpha

   Explore how data-driven models, broad market coverage, factor analysis, and fundamental validation work together to identify opportunities and avoid persistent underperformers.

2. Examine how a holistic approach to risk management improves portfolio resilience

   Learn how combining multiple quantitative risk models with fundamental insight helps identify and manage risks arising from today’s complex and interconnected markets.

3. See how a systematic investment approach can deliver multiple outcomes

   Lift the lid on our global equity suite, comprising three strategies with distinct objectives: Core, Enhanced Income, and Climate.

Company Profile:

Allspring Global Investments™ is an independent asset management firm with more than $628 billion in assets under advisement*, 19 offices globally​, and investment teams supported by 375+ investment professionals. Allspring is committed to thoughtful investing, purposeful planning, and inspiring a new era of investing that pursues both financial returns and positive outcomes. For more information, please visit www.allspringglobal.com.​

 *As of December 31, 2025. ​Figures include discretionary and non-discretionary assets.

Company Profile: Headquartered in Tokyo, Asset Management One Co., Ltd is one of the leading Japanese asset managers offering Japanese, Asian and Global investment strategies to some of the world’s largest institutional, wholesale and corporate asset owners. As of Q4 2025, the firm’s assets under management were $510bn.

The current day company traces its investing legacy back over 90 years to the last century. The group’s experience and Asian-focused perspective offers crucial insights into understanding the nuances of opportunities and challenges not only within Japan, but also across global markets.

These types of investments have gained, and continue to gain, popularity on both sides of the Atlantic. As is the way, this also means an increasing choice of investments, ranging from simple to complex.

The session will look at the different types, their design, their risks and their role in portfolios.

Investing in the defense sector is becoming increasingly relevant in a global context marked by the end of the rules-based order and the return of great-power competition. In a world where the logic of the strongest prevails, states are increasing spending to ensure security and deterrence, supporting structural and long-term demand.

Added to this is a technological revolution involving artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and space, accelerating innovation and investment. The sector therefore benefits from solid and lasting trends, with growth opportunities also driven by research, development, and reindustrialization.

For investors, it represents a strategic theme capable of offering diversification and participation in geopolitical and economic dynamics that are continuously evolving.

Workshop Objective:

Together with Roberto Magnatantini, Senior Portfolio Manager at DECALIA, we will analyze why the DECALIA AEGIS Defense strategy represents an effective solution for investing in the defense sector. Unlike passive funds on the market, which include a significant civilian component, and other active strategies primarily focused on the largest and most established players in the sector, DECALIA’s approach stands out for its specialization.

Thanks to deep expertise, the team is able to identify opportunities before they are widely recognized by the market. Furthermore, high transparency and regular sharing of analyses allow investors to clearly understand the strategy’s process, choices, and positioning.

Company Profile:

Founded in 2014, DECALIA is a Swiss independent asset manager, specializing in investment management for private and institutional clients.

With a team of over 70 professionals and approximately €6 billion in assets under management, DECALIA has experienced rapid growth, driven by the founders’ more than thirty years of expertise in active management.

The group’s activities are organized into three main areas: Wealth Management, Asset Management, and Private Markets.

Regulated by FINMA with a license as a collective investment manager, DECALIA has offices in Geneva, Zurich, and Milan.

Emerging markets delivered one of their strongest years in over a decade in 2025, yet valuations remain compelling relative to developed markets. For those reassessing long-term asset allocation, the conversation often turns to whether EM deserves a structural role in client portfolios. This workshop examines how a dedicated EM allocation has historically enhanced diversification and improved portfolio efficiency over full market cycles. We’ll also explore how accessing the full opportunity set—including underfollowed small- and mid-cap companies with limited sell-side coverage—can uncover differentiated sources of return beyond index-heavy approaches. 

Workshop Objective:

Examine the long-term role EM can play in diversified portfolios, and examine how active, valuation-disciplined management accesses opportunities beyond the index. 

Company Profile:

Dodge & Cox was founded in 1930 in the wake of the Roaring Twenties as a new kind of asset management firm, built on a simple business model and a commitment to pursuing investment excellence. Today, we are one of the world’s largest independently owned investment firms. We actively manage money for individuals and institutions globally with a single, value-oriented investment philosophy applied across a deliberately limited set of offerings. Our focus means we put more resources behind fewer strategies, more passion behind fewer priorities, and more confidence behind every decision. Dodge & Cox was built on a bedrock of independent ownership, integrity, and continuous improvement—so it could serve our clients not just for decades, but for generations.

We will look at how Emerging Market equities endured a ‘lost decade’ of underperformance, returning just 2.8% annualised from 2010 to 2024 while the S&P 500 delivered 14.3% in that time. We examine the primary headwinds, with a focus on the impact of a persistently strong US dollar. We then look at how in 2025, this reversed dramatically, with EM equities returning 34% and the drivers behind this; dollar weakness, improving growth differentials, and 18% consensus earnings growth for companies across the regions. We also examine the outlook for EM equities, with valuations now trading at a significant discount to developed markets, and with global fund allocations sitting at roughly half benchmark weight. We touch on how this asset class spans 24 diverse economies and thus offers substantial dispersion and finally examine how this environment favours active managers like Driehaus whose EM investment strategy identifies fundamental positive earnings inflection points across countries and sectors. 

Workshop Objective:

i. Be able to explain the key macro factors that drove EM equity underperformance relative to developed markets over the past 15 years

ii. Help you evaluate the forward-looking investment case for EM equities within a diversified client portfolio

iii. Inform as to how a flexible emerging market growth equity fund is well-suited to capturing this reversal 

Company Profile:

Driehaus Capital Management LLC is an independent investment adviser with a +40-year heritage of managing active investment strategies on behalf of institutional investors. Founded in 1982 and based in Chicago, Illinois, the firm includes 86 employees and has $29 billion in assets under management. The firm’s culture is defined by strong investment performance, an entrepreneurial spirit, and passionate, intellectually curious, open-minded employees. Independent ownership, a proven investment philosophy, experienced investment talent, a focus on persistent market inefficiencies, and the alignment of portfolio management compensation with performance, together, foster the firm’s competitive edge. 

China's equity market stands at an inflection point. Government-led stimulus, capital market reforms, and rising corporate global competitiveness are creating a more constructive backdrop for equities — yet international allocators remain meaningfully underweight relative to China's share of global GDP. The structural gap between economic weight and portfolio weight represents one of the most compelling long-term opportunities in global investing.

Active management is critical in this environment. The A-share and H-share markets are dominated by retail investors and subject to rapid sentiment shifts, creating persistent pricing inefficiencies that disciplined, fundamentals-driven managers can systematically exploit.
As Greater China's largest public fund manager, E Fund has built an investment engine purpose-designed for this market — 100+ equity analysts, deep sector specialization, and a 25-year history of delivering alpha across market cycles — which is the institutional-grade capability we bring directly to global allocators.

Workshop Objective: Build the case for a strategic China allocation within global portfolios and illustrate how E Fund's top-notch on-the-ground research capabilities and domestic market knowledge create a structural edge in identifying alpha opportunities across the MSCI China universe.

Company Profile: Established in 2001, E Fund Management Co., Ltd. (“E Fund”) is a leading comprehensive mutual fund manager in China with over USD 584 billion under management. It offers investment solutions to onshore and offshore clients, helping clients achieve long-term sustainable investment performances. E Fund’s clients include both individuals and institutions, ranging from central banks, sovereign wealth funds, social security funds, pension funds, insurance and reinsurance companies, to corporates and banks. 

Long-term oriented, it has been focusing on the investment management business since inception and believes in the power of in-depth research and time in investing. It is a pioneer and leading practitioner in responsible investments in China and is widely recognized as one of the most trusted and outstanding Chinese asset managers.

Often overlooked in recent years as mega-caps dominated global indices, Europe's equity universe offers a naturally broader and less concentrated alternative.

Euro Q-Equity aims to convert this breadth into disciplined alpha through a sound quantamental approach. The strategy leverages systematic stock selection and diversified factor exposures – tilting across Value, Quality, Growth, Momentum, and Sentiment – within a proprietary multifactor framework complemented by fundamental due diligence. Risk is managed through quality filters and an active, benchmark-aware construction, prioritizing resilient performance over aggressive positioning. Backed by a long-tested quantitative framework, Euro Q-Equity translates Europe's equity breadth into a diversified active profile designed for consistency across cycles. 

Workshop Objective:

Unravelling why Euro equities may offer diversification, and how Euro Q-Equity seeks systematic alpha through a proven quantamental approach. 

Company Profile:

Eurizon is a leading player in the European Asset Management space, of widespread international presence. Eurizon Capital SGR is the Asset Management Division Company of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group. In Europe, Eurizon controls Eurizon Capital SGR Luxembourg branch which develops growth in foreign markets and the Eastern Europe hub. In the UK, with Eurizon SLJ Capital LTD, a joint venture providing investment and advisory services with a focus on Chinese and emerging market debt, currency management and macroeconomic research. Eurizon operates through its commercial branches in Spain, France, Germany, and a commercial office in Switzerland. 

With over a decade of track record and €3 billion AuM, OptoFlex and US EquityFlex are engineered to improve the performance of bond and equity portfolios. These liquid, UCITS-compliant funds focus on systematically capturing risk premiums to act as reliable yield enhancers in your strategic allocation. In this session, our portfolio managers will show how these rule-based strategies generate consistent additional returns. A key advantage: thanks to an integrated tail hedge, the strategies provide extra stability precisely when markets face extreme stress. Join us to discover how you can achieve reliable excess returns while maintaining a robust safety net for your portfolio’s most challenging moments. 

Workshop Objectives:

Learn how to:

• Improve performance by systematically capturing risk premiums.

• Remove guesswork with objective, forecast-free strategies.

• Ensure flexibility through high liquidity and simple structures.

• Protect capital during extreme crises with an integrated safety net 

Company Profile:

FERI was founded in Bad Homburg in 1987 as Germany’s first multi-family office. Since then, we have grown to become one of the leading multi-asset managers in the German-speaking world, with more than €60 billion of assets under management and over 280 employees at eight locations. We offer private and institutional investors something unique: first-class asset management based on our own in-depth research. At the heart of our investment approach lies a deep commitment to alternative asset classes. Our Volatility Strategies Team is widely regarded as one of Germany’s premier units, having defined the standards for excellence and innovation within the sector. 

Electrification and data centers sit at the center of AI’s next growth phase, but they are also where the constraints show up first. As AI workloads scale, power availability, transmission infrastructure, and equipment shortages increasingly determine where data centers can be built and how fast capacity can come online. This workshop explains why “AI infrastructure” is becoming a multi-year capex cycle, shaped by the pace of data-center construction and the power sector’s ability to expand generation and grid capacity in key AI hubs. We connect these infrastructure realities to market implications, outlining the segments most leveraged to sustained buildout. The goal is a discussion of the thematic and structural case for identifying durable beneficiaries as the new intelligence-industrial age accelerates. 

Workshop Objective:

Electrification underpins the modern economy and AI. This workshop examines the power backdrop amid the AI data-center boom, showing how this new intelligence-industrial buildout is creating generational thematic investment opportunities. 

Company Profile: 

Global X ETFs was founded in 2008. For more than 15 years, our mission has been empowering investors with unexplored and intelligent solutions. Our expansive product lineup features a wide range of ETFs and includes more than $138.8 billion in assets under management. i While we are distinguished for our Thematic Growth, Income and International Access ETFs, we also offer Core, Commodity, and Risk Management funds to suit a wide range of investment objectives. Explore our ETFs, research and insights, and more at www.globalxetfs.eu. Global X is a member of Mirae Asset Financial Group, a global leader in financial services, with more than $800.3 billion in assets under management worldwide. ii Mirae Asset has an extensive global ETF platform ranging across the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam with over $209 billion in assets under management.iii 

 i Source: Global X, as of December, 2025

ii Mirae Asset, as of September, 2025

iii Mirae Asset, as of December, 2025 

Explore how fixed income can work harder for your portfolio in this focused workshop on active ETF strategies. As macroeconomic conditions and market structure evolve, discover how active fixed income ETFs leverage dynamic sector rotation, rigorous credit analysis, and real-time trading to capture alpha and manage risk beyond the reach of passive approaches. Learn from industry experts how these strategies deliver superior risk-adjusted returns, enhanced liquidity, and robust diversification—empowering you to optimize your bond allocation in today’s complex environment. 

Workshop Objective:

Learn how J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s active fixed income ETF strategies can enhance your portfolio by capturing alpha, managing risk, and optimizing bond allocation in today’s changing market.

Company Profile:

J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with assets under management of $4.2 trillion (as of December 31, 2025), is a global leader in investment management. J.P. Morgan Asset Management's clients include institutions, retail investors and high net worth individuals in every major market throughout the world. J.P. Morgan Asset Management offers global investment management in equities, fixed income, real estate, hedge funds, private equity and liquidity.

Mercer’s Semi-Liquid Private Debt strategy provides efficient access to Mercer’s best ideas across direct lending, structured credit and specialty finance. It is designed to deliver a return profile comparable to a closed-ended private debt fund while offering greater liquidity, no J-curve, faster deployment, improved rebalancing and vintage diversification — all with a significantly lower administrative burden. The strategy forecasts a net target return of Net Cash +5–6% and offers investors quarterly subscriptions and redemptions. The fund has an established liquidity management plan. The fund qualifies as a financial product under Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2019/2088. Partnering with Mercer provides investors with access to highly rated investment managers and a curated selection of high-quality alternative investment opportunities, managed by our experienced private markets team (>270 investment professionals globally).

* Mercer cannot guarantee access to managers or investment opportunities, GP and related discounts are not guaranteed. Mercer cannot guarantee any future returns. 

Workshop Objective:

The objective of this session is to present and discuss the opportunity in Semi-Liquid Private Debt, raise investor awareness following recent headlines and present Mercer’s strategy which is of significant appeal to wealth managers. 

Company Profile: 

Mercer is a business of Marsh (NYSE: MRSH), a global leader in risk, reinsurance and capital, people and investments, and management consulting, advising clients in 130 countries. With annual revenue of $27 billion and more than 95,000 colleagues, Marsh helps build the confidence to thrive through the power of perspective. For more information about Mercer, visit mercer.com, or follow us on LinkedIn and X. 

Moneta’s DNA lies in uncovering under-researched or misunderstood companies with strong re-rating or turnaround potential — maintaining a distinctive mid-cap edge even within its long-short strategy. The Moneta Midcap Dynamic fund focuses on European mid-cap equities (€2–30bn market cap), a core area of Moneta’s expertise. It operates a long-short strategy with 130% long and 30% short exposure, targeting around 100% net exposure. The fund aims to deliver high single- to double-digit annual returns by capturing re-rating and turnaround opportunities on the long side, while shorting deteriorating or overvalued companies with negative catalysts. The portfolio is concentrated, with 40–45 long positions and 30–45 shorts, emphasizing high-conviction ideas and pair-trading strategies. 

Workshop Objective:

Gain a clear understanding of Moneta’s MMD strategy, how it captures opportunities in European mid-caps through a disciplined long-short approach, and how it enhances portfolio diversification and return potential for investors. 

Company Profile:

Moneta AM is an independent, 100% founder- and employee-owned asset management firm with €4billion in AUM as of February 29, 2026. Since 2003, Moneta has focused on fundamental stock-picking in European equities, managing three strategies: Moneta Multicaps (European all-cap long-only), Moneta Long Short (European long-short), and Moneta SMID cap strategies, including Moneta Micro Entreprises and four closed-end funds (MME 2026, MME 2027, MME 2028, MME 2029, MME20230). With 23 years of outstanding track records, Moneta has earned a strong reputation in European SMID cap investing. Our approach is built on active management and independent research, identifying undervalued companies often overlooked by others. Valuation and governance are at the core of our investment philosophy. 

James Douglas, manager of the Polar Capital Global Healthcare Select Fund, will explore why healthcare is at a potential turning point, with strong fundamentals and attractive valuations. The sector may be out of favour, but James will discuss the powerful structural drivers underpinning long-term growth – demographics, rising demand globally and accelerating innovation across biotech and pharmaceuticals. Against a backdrop of macro uncertainty and shifting interest rate expectations, he will highlight why healthcare may be poised to reassert its defensive and growth characteristics, and where the most compelling opportunities lie within a diverse and rapidly evolving sector. 

Workshop Objective:

Understand why the healthcare sector may be at a turning point, identify the key structural drivers supporting its long-term growth, and evaluate where the most compelling investment opportunities may lie within the sector in the current macroeconomic environment. 

Company Profile:

Polar Capital are a specialist, investment-led active fund manager with a clear purpose: to be the specialist active manager of choice for investors seeking expertise, conviction and long-term results.

We focus on areas where we have real experience and a proven edge, offering strategies that aim to deliver strong, diversified growth.

Our success comes from the things that define us – deep investment knowledge, enduring client relationships and a culture built on teamwork and integrity. We manage our fund capacity carefully to protect performance and keep our focus where it matters most: delivering for our investors.

Since launching in 2001, we have grown steadily and now have 13 independent investment teams managing specialist, active portfolios with combined assets under management of €35.1bn (at 31/03/2026).

In a market environment where income remains a priority, our workshop will explore our income-focused emerging market debt (EMD) strategies—the EMD Euro Income Strategy and the EMD High Income Strategy—both designed to maximise income as a performance driver while minimising the portfolio impact of EMD credit and macro risks.

The strategies seek to generate income by investing across sovereign, corporate, and local-currency EM bonds. The EMD Euro Income Strategy focuses on identifying attractive sources of EUR income, including EUR-denominated EM bonds, USD bonds hedged back to EUR, and selectively managed high-yielding local currency assets referenced to EUR. The EMD High Income Strategy is positioned as a "short duration +" portfolio, with a focus on income-driven and long-biased alpha/idiosyncratic exposures with a duration range of 3-4 years. Using a benchmark-agnostic approach, the team employs a three-stage research process that includes top-down macro and sector analysis, rigorous stress-testing of potential opportunities, and execution on the team’s highest conviction ideas. 

Workshop Objective:

Damien Buchet, CIO Principal Finisterre will share insights from the team’s well-tested investment process, highlighting how disciplined research and flexible portfolio management aim to deliver resilient income, diversification benefits, and attractive risk-adjusted returns across market cycles. 

Company Profile:

About Principal Asset Management^SM

With public and private market capabilities across all asset classes, Principal Asset Management^SM and its specialist investment teams are focused on harnessing the potential of every opportunity to secure an advantage for its clients. The 29^th largest manager of worldwide institutional assets under management of 369 managers profiled, Principal Asset Management applies local insights with global perspectives to identify compelling investment opportunities and deliver distinctive solutions aligned with client objectives.¹

Principal Asset Management is the global investment management business for Principal Financial Group® (Nasdaq: PFG), managing $601.5 billion in assets and recognized as one of the “Best Places to Work in Money Management” for 14 consecutive years.^2,3 

Learn more at PrincipalAM.com.

¹ Managers ranked by total worldwide institutional assets as of December 31, 2024. Pensions & Investments, “Largest Money Managers,” June 2025.

² Principal Asset Management AUM as of December 31, 2025.

³ Pensions & Investments, “The Best Places to Work in Money Management” among companies with 1,000 or more employees, December 2025. 

Global markets are navigating one of the most volatile and fragmented geopolitical backdrop in decades. Escalating geopolitical conflicts, rising trade protectionism and heightened policy uncertainty have all increased volatility across asset classes.

Importantly, this instability is not originating from Emerging markets. Many EM economies today are fundamentally stronger, characterised by fiscal discipline, credible monetary policy and growing domestic markets. Amid USD uncertainty, EM's still-elevated real yields offer compelling carry opportunities.

Yet dispersion across EM continues to widen, creating a compelling opportunity set. An unconstrained approach is uniquely positioned to capitalise on this, dynamically allocating across credit, rates and currencies — offering perhaps the most efficient pathway to local currency exposure and USD hedging benefits that many investors have overlooked.

In this environment flexibility is the key to unlocking consistent EM alpha.

Workshop Objective:

To demonstrate how superior returns can be achieved in a volatile EM landscape using an unconstrained approach. An approach that is flexible and can quickly adapt to changing market conditions, seizing opportunities, and mitigating risks.

Company Profile:

RBC BlueBay Asset Management represents RBC Global Asset Management outside of North America and is an active asset manager with expertise across fixed income, equities and alternatives. Our solutions-driven approach means we endeavour to empower our clients with the knowledge they need to help shape their investment decisions. We work and evolve with our clients, creating and customising investment products that meet their needs.

We operate with total transparency throughout the business, providing clients with direct access to our investment teams and fostering a culture that encourages opportunity, resulting in a thoughtful and inclusive organisation that puts people first and delivers for clients.

Responsible investment is not just an investment focus; it is deeply ingrained into client experience and our work to deliver solutions that support real-world impact.

This high-conviction global equity income strategy has consistently delivered attractive long-term alpha, despite a long-standing underweight to the U.S. At the heart of the approach lies disciplined, bottom-up stock selection—grounded in fundamental research and unconstrained by benchmarks. Rather than relying on regional or sector tilts, the portfolio focuses on identifying resilient, cash-generative businesses with the capacity to sustain and grow dividends over time. This session explores how a selective, research-driven investment philosophy can uncover differentiated sources of income and return and also remain balanced without looking like the benchmark, offering investors a compelling defensive equity total return solution that is complemented by income in for today’s global landscape.

Workshop Objectives:

•   Demonstrate how Thornburg’s global equity income strategy delivers resilient income and long-term alpha through disciplined, bottom-up stock selection.
  •    Introduce Thornburg’s broader equity fund range and illustrate how these strategies can address diverse client objectives in different market environments.

Company Profile: Thornburg Investment Management (“Thornburg”) is an active, high-conviction manager of equities, fixed income, multi-asset and alternative solutions. As a privately owned firm and with $57 billion1 in client assets as of 31 March 2026, Thornburg serves institutions, financial professionals and investors worldwide. The firm offers mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, separate accounts and UCITS funds. Thornburg was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico with additional offices in Hong Kong and London. For more information, visit www.thornburg.com.

1 Includes assets under management ($56.2B) and assets under advisement ($1.3B), as of 31 March 2026.

Looking through 2026 and beyond, the setup for EM equities remains compelling despite a more volatile geopolitical backdrop. Year to date, EM has demonstrated resilience and relative outperformance versus developed markets, supported by improving earnings momentum and strengthening macro fundamentals. While the conflict in Iran has introduced near-term uncertainty through higher energy prices and tighter financial conditions, it also reinforces the importance of selectivity and highlights dispersion across the asset class.

Valuations remain attractive and EM continues to be under-owned. Combined with improving fundamentals, we believe this supports a multi-year opportunity set, with scope for strong absolute and relative returns. Our portfolios are well positioned to capture these themes through a differentiated, integrated investment process.

Workshop Objective:

Learn why we have never been more excited about EM equities, and the key high-conviction themes in our portfolios. 

Company Profile:

Founded in 1988, TT International is a specialist investment boutique, encompassing cross-asset emerging markets long-only and long/short capabilities alongside European equity and credit hedge funds. Having achieved strong risk-adjusted returns, we now manage around $5bn.

In 2020, TT was acquired by leading Japanese financial services organisation Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. This partnership provides resilience and strength, whilst preserving the benefits of our boutique approach.

We are dedicated to generating strong risk-adjusted returns for clients. To this end, our investment strategies focus only on areas where we hold clear competitive advantages, within markets where structural inefficiencies create opportunities for skilled active managers.

In emerging markets, understanding the interaction between macroeconomic forces and company-specific fundamentals is essential, as this interplay is often complex and under-researched. By integrating both top-down and bottom-up analysis, we can identify mispriced assets and capture the alpha that arises from these inefficiencies.

Whilst we offer a range of complementary strategies across multiple asset classes, they are unified by an active, high-conviction approach.

To maximise our ability to deliver strong performance, all our strategies maintain a capacity disciplined process that allows portfolio managers to remain nimble and access opportunities that larger peers often cannot. 

The political, trade, and financial architecture that shaped global markets through the late 20th and early 21st centuries is undergoing significant change. Rising geopolitical fragmentation, increasing protectionism, technological disruption, and elevated public debt burdens in developed economies are reshaping the investment landscape and contributing to higher volatility. Importantly, many of today’s macroeconomic and financial shocks are originating in developed markets rather than emerging ones. While developed economies grapple with fiscal constraints and shifting policy regimes, many emerging market sovereigns have strengthened their macro frameworks through improved credit quality, more credible monetary policy, and more disciplined fiscal management. Despite this progress, emerging market debt continues to offer a meaningful yield premium relative to developed market fixed income, supporting its role as a source of income and diversification.

Workshop Objective:

To explore how emerging market debt can provide income and diversification in today’s volatile environment, and how a disciplined, bottom-up investment approach can identify relative value across sovereign and corporate opportunities. 

Company Profile:

Virtus Investment Partners (NYSE: VRTS) is a distinctive partnership of boutique investment managers singularly committed to the long-term success of individual and institutional investors. We provide investment products and services from our investment managers, each with a distinct investment style and autonomous investment process, as well as select subadvisers. Investment solutions are available across multiple disciplines and product types to meet a wide array of investor needs. Additional information about our firm, investment partners, and strategies is available at virtus.com.