Citywire Private Office Retreat 2024
I am delighted to extend a personal invitation to you for the seventh edition of the Private Office Retreat, poised to be our most impressive event to date!
Please join us on September 19-20 at Pennyhill Park, Surrey. This one-and-a-half-day event will provide you with essential insights and fresh investment strategies to effectively navigate the upcoming year.
Due to high demand for attendance, we encourage you to register soon to secure your spot.
There is no charge for attending (which is strictly by invitation only) and you will earn up to eight hours of structured CPD.
This retreat will once again gather prominent individuals from the private and family office sectors. Our schedule includes a series of keynote presentations, workshops led by top fund managers, and ample opportunities for networking with your industry peers.
In these divided times, we have carefully curated a lineup of speakers who will address the major debates and guide our discussions.
Our keynote speakers:
We kick off with Richard Davies, economist, director of the UK's Economics Observatory and fellow at LSE. Author of Extreme Economies, he will provide unique insights into economies under pressure. His work bridges academic research with government policy, aiming to enhance understanding of pressing economic challenges.
After lunch, I’ll be in conversation with Walter Pasquarelli, an eminent expert on AI, and its impact on economics, finance, and politics. As a strategic advisor to Google and Microsoft, he shapes policies and strategies for harnessing AI's potential. This will be an open, curated discussion so you will have the chance to put your questions to him too.
On Friday morning we’ll hear from Sarah Langford, a barrister turned Suffolk farmer and author on agriculture. Building on her recent book Rooted: Stories of Life, Land, and a Farming Revolution, she will speak on the benefits, challenges and opportunities of regenerative farming, shining a light on this critical point in the future of the countryside.
In addition, you will attend 10 fund strategy workshops with leading fund managers, the details of which will be released a little nearer the time.
On behalf of the whole Citywire team, I do hope you will be able to join us for our annual private office gathering. See you in September.
All the best,
Steven
Learning Objectives
By the end of the event delegates will be able to:
- List a variety of investment strategies from fund managers across multiple asset classes.
- Identify key links between economic growth and government policy.
- Describe the impact of AI on economics, finance, and politics.
- Specify challenges and opportunities of regenerative farming, a key area of opportunity in sustainable investment.

Agenda
08:20 - 09:20
Registration
09:20 - 09:30
Welcome with Steven Chatterton
09:30 - 10:30
Conference Session 1 - Richard Davies
10:30 - 11:00
Fund Group Workshop 1
11:10 - 11:40
Fund Group Workshop 2
11:50 - 12:20
Fund Group Workshop 3
12:20 - 13:40
Table Planned Lunch
13:40 - 14:40
Conference Session 2 - Walter Pasquerelli
14:40 - 15:10
Fund Group Workshop 4
15:20 - 15:50
Fund Group Workshop 5
16:00 - 16:30
Fund Group Workshop 6
19:30 - 20:00
Drink Reception
20:00 - 23:00
Table Planned Dinner
08:00 - 09:15
Breakfast at Leisure
09:15 - 10:15
Conference Session 3 - Sarah Langford
10:15 - 10:45
Fund Group Workshop 7
10:55 - 11:25
Fund Group Workshop 8
11:35 - 12:05
Fund Group Workshop 9
12:05 - 13:30
Buffet Lunch
13:30
Event Close
Keynote Speakers
Speakers

Richard Davies
Richard Davies is an economist, policy adviser, writer and speaker. He is a Professor at Bristol University, a fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE) and Director of the UK’s Economics Observatory. The Economics Observatory (ECO) is an innovative project that bridges the gap between academic research, government policy and the general public. As part of this role, he maintains close links with policymakers and cutting-edge researchers, working to bridge the gap between the two to build a better understanding of the economic challenges we face.
Richard is the author of Extreme Economies – What Life at the World’s Margins can Teach us about our Own Future (Penguin). This important book tells the personal stories of people living in extreme situations—from America’s largest high-security prison to the aftermath of the world’s most devastating natural disaster. The stories, captured by on-the-ground reporting from places no other economist has visited cover both the developed and developing world, and set out the striking economic innovation and financial sophistication seen in these hidden places. Richard argues that we should learn from these places in answering today’s biggest economic questions.
Richard has worked at the forefront of economic policy. At the Bank of England between 2006 and 2012 he managed teams covering international macroeconomics and the financial sector, writing speeches and working as a lead author of the bank’s Financial Stability Report.
Leaving the Bank of England for The Economist Richard became the paper’s Economics Editor in 2014 responsible for global economic coverage. His articles on economics have also featured in The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Times, The Guardian and 1843 magazine.
Richard is also involved in attempts to reform economics. He is a founding trustee and director of CORE Economics Education, and gives talks about economics and journalism in state schools for Speakers for Schools. He has previously worked with Pro Bono Economics to help charities estimate the impact of their work.
Click HERE to view presentation

Walter Pasquarelli
Walter Pasquarelli is considered one of the most eminent global generative AI experts, having profoundly shaped society's understanding of how the technological revolution is restructuring economic, financial, and political structures. Having served as a trusted advisor to political and technology leaders, Walter is a pivotal voice in dissecting, analysing, and forecasting the strategic opportunities of AI. Walter is a crucial voice if you are looking to understand how generative AI will revolutionise society.

Sarah Langford
Sarah Langford is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law. For ten years, she worked in criminal and family law in London and around the UK. Coming from a farming background in Hampshire, she studied English at University before training as a barrister. Sarah left the Bar on maternity leave to have her two sons. In 2017 she moved to Suffolk and, together with her husband, took on the management of his small family farm. She now lives between Southwest London and Suffolk.
When Sarah left her city life behind and found herself unexpectedly back in the world of farming, it was not how she remembered. Instead, she saw farmers dealing with very different problems to those faced by her grandfather, considered a hero for having fed a starving nation after war. Now farmers faced accusations of ecological mismanagement by a hostile urban media whilst battling extreme weather and political upheaval. Yet as Sarah learned how to farm and grew closer to the land, she discovered a new generation on a path of regenerative change.
In her most recent book, Rooted: Stories of Life, Land, and a Farming Revolution, Sarah weaves her own story around those who taught her what it means to be a farmer. She shines a light on the human side of modern farming, and shows how land connects us all, not only in terms of global sustainability but in our relationships with our physical and mental health, our communities and our planet.




.png)



Workshops
Workshops

Trend following for improved client outcomes
Provide an introduction to CFM and our core trend following strategy. Our ISTrends program captures trend effects across all asset classes and seeks to deliver persistent absolute returns at constant risk, and to achieve low correlation to traditional equity and fixed income benchmarks. We will look at the key characteristics of the strategy and performance.
Workshop Objectives: Learn about trend following at CFM. What is trend following and how it can help improve client portfolio outcomes.
Company Profile: Capital Fund Management (CFM) is a global asset management company based in Paris with offices in New York and London. CFM takes a scientific and academic approach to finance, using quantitative and systematic techniques to develop alternative investment strategies and products for institutional investors and financial advisers. CFM has over 320 employees worldwide and manages over $14 billion (May 2024).
Speakers
Martin Jost
Head of Product Specialists

Based in Paris, Martin is CFM's Head of Product Specialists within the Investor Relations team, working with institutional and private wealth investors globally. He works closely with the Research team and is responsible for running technical analyses for clients and communicating CFM’s investment approach for its various investment programs. Martin has over 13 years of experience in the financial industry and has previously worked in London in the Investment Banking division of Rabobank and Société Générale, where he structured equity derivatives and hybrid trading strategies. He graduated from Centrale-Supélec engineering school, earned a BS. in Economics from Université Paris Sud, and an MSc in Finance with Distinction from Imperial College London where he studied financial engineering.
Representatives
Rasmus Soegaard
Director, Head of UCITS Distribution

Rasmus Soegaard joined CFM's Business Development team as Head of UCITS and platforms distribution on 1 August 2023.
Rasmus has over 20 years’ experience allocating to alternatives incl. hedge funds and managing multi asset portfolios as a portfolio manager. His most recent role was Head of Investments for Lumyna Investments. His role at CFM is to maintain, develop and grow existing relationships with UCITS platforms and expand CFM UCITS distribution reach.
Maria Gendelman
Investor Relations, UK & Ireland


Driving Social Change: Exploring the Impact of Social Bonds
The CT UK Social Bond fund focuses on generating positive social outcomes alongside financial returns by investing in bonds that fund projects with measurable social benefits. Launched in 2014, the fund supports initiatives in affordable housing, education, health, and job creation, targeting disadvantaged communities across the UK. It aims to provide a diversified portfolio with a strong emphasis on social impact, while maintaining a competitive financial performance. The fund’s strategy integrates rigorous social assessment criteria, ensuring investments contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth.
Workshop Objectives:
1. Understanding Social Bond Funds – Educate participants on the fundamentals of social bond funds
2. Evaluating Social Impact – how do you assess the social impact of investments
3. Regulatory and Market Insights – understanding the regulatory landscape including SDR and market trends influencing social bond funds
Company Profile: Investing smarter for the world you want
At Columbia Threadneedle Investments, we invest to make a difference in your world, and the wider world. Millions of people rely on us to manage their money and invest for their future; together they entrust us with US$637bn / €577bn / £500 billion. Whatever world you want, our purpose is to help you achieve it. We do this by being globally connected, intense about research, having a responsible ethos and a focus on continuous improvement.
Source: Columbia Threadneedle Investments as of 31 December 2023.
Speakers
Tammie Tang
Executive Director

Tammie Tang is a senior portfolio manager in the Fixed Income team with a focus on investment grade credit, having joined the company in 2012. She is lead portfolio manager for Columbia Threadneedle’s UK, European and global social bond strategies, as well as various institutional UK credit strategies and the Threadneedle Pensions Corporate Bond Fund. Tammie’s responsibilities and focus are geared towards generating active returns and alignment with clients’ sustainability objectives.
Tammie previously worked at JPMorgan in New York, where she held roles in structuring, trading and portfolio management within more complex interest rate and credit derivative products for the bank’s asset management and insurance clients. Tammie started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sydney, in an actuarial consulting role where she provided detailed pricing, valuation and statistical modelling work for insurance clients.
Tammie holds a Master of Statistics from the University of New South Wales and is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries Australia. She is also a trustee for the Columbia Threadneedle Foundation where we work closely with long-term charity partners to drive social change
Representatives
Tristan Tully
Head of London Sales

Tristan Tully joined the company in 2009 as a Sales Manager covering London and the South East of England. Tristan now focuses on discretionary clients in central London, working with Wealth Managers, Fund of Funds, Family Offices and Private Banks.
Prior to joining Columbia Threadneedle Investments, Tristan worked in sales roles at Barings, UBS and Fidelity.
Tristan gained a degree in Geography from the University of Kent and holds the IMC qualification.
Oliver Green
London Sales Manager

Oliver Green is a London Sales Manager within the UK Intermediary Distribution team. Oliver joined Columbia Threadneedle through the acquisition of BMO GAM (EMEA) in 2021, having previously been with BMO since 2018. He is responsible for managing our relationships with London clients in the Intermediary space including Global Financial Institutions, Asset Managers, Wealth Managers and Family Offices. He started his career by becoming part of the Client Management Graduate program at BMO in 2018. Oliver graduated from the University of Bath with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering (MEng). He has the IMC qualification and is a CFA Level III candidate.

Valuation Disparity in Global Markets & the Value of Being Contrarian
Contrarius is a bottom-up, valuation-based, contrarian active manager taking advantage of opportunities in global markets. Our presentation outlines the application of the key components of our investment philosophy, and demonstrates how the current disparity in the market creates opportunities across both growth and value-oriented areas. Our very different portfolio offers investors an opportunity to invest in a Fund which is truly different from conventional offerings. Our presentation also demonstrates how the consistent application of our bottom-up, contrarian investment philosophy has taken advantage of disparity over time resulting in a fund that has outperformed the benchmark MSCI World Index and the average manager since its inception on 1 January 2009.
Workshop Objective: To introduce delegates to Contrarius’ contrarian investment philosophy which has outperformed the MSCI World Index and the average manager since its inception on 1/1/2009.
Company Profile: Contrarius’ objective is to create long-term wealth for our investors through superior long-term investment performance. Our portfolios are typically very different from our peers demonstrating our contrarian approach.
Our largest fund, Contrarius Global Equity Fund, has outperformed the benchmark MSCI World Index and the average manager since its inception on 1 January 2009.
We believe that long-term performance is driven by the consistent application of a sound investment philosophy. The key characteristics of our investment philosophy are that it is contrarian, valuation based, long-term and based on proprietary fundamental research. For more information, visit www.contrarius.com.
Speakers
Stephen Mildenhall
Founder & Director

Stephen Mildenhall founded the Contrarius Group in 2008. He had more than 10 years’ previous investment experience with Allan Gray Limited, the largest privately owned investment management firm in South Africa. Stephen was the Chief Investment Officer from 2001 with ultimate responsibility for approximately $30bn AUM when he resigned to establish Contrarius in 2008. Stephen holds a B Com (Hons) degree, is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and a CFA charterholder.
Representatives
Simon Raubenheimer
Director

Simon joined Contrarius in March 2019. He has over 16 years’ previous investment experience with Allan Gray Ltd. From 2008-2018, Simon co-managed Allan Gray’s equity and balanced composites which included the largest equity and largest mutual fund in South Africa. Simon also co-launched and managed the Allan Gray Global Frontier Equity Fund. He has a BCom (Econometrics) and BCom (Honours) (Financial Analysis and Portfolio Management). Simon is a CFA charterholder.
Claire Hall
Director

Claire joined Contrarius in May 2009 as an investment analyst. Prior to joining Contrarius she was a business analyst at Allan Gray Limited in South Africa with responsibilities including client servicing and investment research. She holds a Bachelor of Business Science (Actuarial Science), is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (FIA) and is a CFA charterholder.

Companies in Trouble: Rubies in the Rubble
Quantitative easing and ultra-low interest rates, the twin responses of Western central banks, have permanently altered the shape of global finance. The effects could not be more evident in the leveraged finance market which witnessed unprecedented growth as financial sponsors seized upon the opportunity to acquire large portfolios of businesses, and the market moves towards “covenant-lite.
While defaults remain very low overall, in this session, we will highlight some of the ways in which creditor protections in credit documentation have evolved since the GFC and how this can have an impact on sponsor behaviour when a borrower struggles to refinance its debt. We will also explore the opportunity set within the distressed debt market and how managers can extract returns from a market where debt investors appear to be better insulated against the risk of losing value to some of the more aggressive tactics seen today.
Workshop Objective: Understand the evolution of the global Leveraged Finance market and he changes faced by creditors and debtors alike. Discover how managers and investors can extract returns from the European distressed debt markets
Company Profile: At Franklin Templeton, we offer our clients a gateway to investment excellence backed by a global organization and delivered through a consistent, coordinated client experience. We’ve broadened our capabilities by attracting leading public and private market investment managers to our firm. Today, we are among the world’s largest asset managers, with offices in major financial markets, serving clients in more than 150 countries and managing nearly USD 1.6 trillion in assets*.
Speakers
Laurence Raven
Alcentra Head of Special Situations, Managing Director

Laurence joined Alcentra in September 2008 and is a Portfolio Manager for Alcentra's Special Situations funds. He has specialised in special situations and distressed debt investing for his entire career, serving on the creditor committees of some of Europe's largest financial restructurings. Prior to joining Alcentra, Laurence worked as an analyst for a proprietary investment group at Merrill Lynch focusing on stressed and distressed credit. Laurence graduated from the London School of Economics with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economic History.
Representatives
Laura Hadrill
Family Offices Director

Laura joined Franklin Templeton in March 2022 to build strategic partnerships with Family Offices, with particular focus on alternative investment solutions. Prior to this, Laura spent 14 years at BlueBay Asset Management, latterly as UK Sales Director. In this role she worked closely with Family Offices, Endowments and Funds of Hedge Funds. She began her career at HSBC Private Bank in Paris, and holds a MA from the University of Cambridge.
James Peoples
Senior Alternatives Sales Specialist

James joined Franklin Templeton in October 2021 as an Alternative Sales Specialist, covering the EMEA region, with a particular focus on the UK and Ireland. Prior to joining FT, James was a principal at CQS, selling alternative credit solutions to the UK, Swiss and Nordics clients. James also worked at Muzinich and BlueBay Asset Management, both credit focused asset managers, as a sales director with global remit. James started his career, spending 7 years at Goldman Sachs, initially on the credit trading desk and later as an institutional portfolio manager in the Fixed Income team at GSAM. James holds a BSC in Economics from Westminster business school and a post graduate business degree in International Banking & Finance from Columbia Business School in New York.
.png)
What’s next for Japan?
Earlier this year, Japanese equities experienced positive momentum, a trend that was suddenly disrupted by market turmoil in August. Join our experts as they discuss the outlook for the Japanese economy and equities, and explore how an active ETF can provide added value.
Company Profile: J.P. Morgan ETFs span the full investment spectrum, constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible from the ETF wrapper.
From traditional passive to innovative strategic and alternative beta strategies, and right through to best-in-class active funds, our ETFs capitalise on our extensive expertise across all major markets and in every asset class, allowing investors to create more diversified and better-priced portfolios.
Our aim is simple: to provide solutions for every investment portfolio by elevating ETFs to their full potential.
Speakers
Dennis Eldridge
Executive Director, Investment Specialist, EMAP Equities

Dennis Eldridge, executive director, is an Investment Specialist within the Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific (EMAP) Equities team, based in London. An employee since 1997, he joined the Firm as graduate trainee in the U.K. Retail Group. He then moved to the Request for Proposal team that specialises in Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific equities. In 2004 Dennis moved internally to JPMorgan Asset Management (Asia Pacific) Limited to focus on business development for Asia Pacific strategies. Dennis obtained a B.A. (Honours) in Politics from the University of Wales, Swansea
Representatives
Edward Malcolm
UK Head of ETF Distribution

Edward Malcolm, executive director, is the UK Head of ETF of Distribution and he is focused on distributing the new & innovative J.P. Morgan ETF offering to the UK market. Prior to joining, Edward worked at State Street Global Advisors for over 7 years in their SPDR ETF team. He was responsible for distributing the SPDR ETF range to UK clients and latterly headed up their UK Wealth team.
Charlotte Gower
UK ETF Distribution

Charlotte Gower, works alongside Edward to distribute J.P. Morgan Asset Management's ETF range across the UK to a wide spectrum of clients. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Charlotte completed a three-stage rotational program within J.P. Morgan's Investment Bank, where she worked in a number of cross-functional teams including within the Markets business.

A better alternative to passive investing, based on Risk Premia
Our Beta+ solutions lie in the sweet spot between pure passive strategies and active strategies. The investment approach is research-driven, based on a collaborative process using proprietary systematic models – which are data-driven, consistent, and highly repeatable – with a fundamental overlay. The aim is to outperform a given index, over the long-term by systematically overweighting proven risk premia/factors. The Beta+ process offers additional benefits and real alpha enhancing potential due to:
- De-selection: Avoiding the losers has demonstrably and consistently added alpha over time
- Tailored: Not a “one model fits it all” approach, only the risk premia/factors with the highest explanatory power are applied across industries
- Customisable: Most equity index can be enhanced taking into consideration client’s specific constraints
Workshop Objectives: Demonstrate how Nordea’s Beta+ strategies offer a sweet spot between passive and active investing, with a demonstrated history in consistently outperforming given indices at low cost, with a controlled tracking error and a process to dynamically weight factors.
Company Profile: Nordea Asset Management is part of the Nordea Group, the largest financial services group in the Nordic region. NAM offers European and global investors’ exposure to a broad set of investment funds.
Nordea’s success is based on a sustainable and unique multi-boutique approach that combines the expertise of specialised internal boutiques with exclusive external competences allowing us to deliver alpha in a stable way for the benefit of our clients. NAM solutions cover all asset classes from fixed income and equity to multi asset solutions, and manage local and European as well as US, global and emerging market products.
Speakers
Federico Falletta, CFA
Senior Investment Specialist – Multi-Asset

Federico is a Senior Investment Specialist at Nordea Asset Management (NAM) for Multi Assets solutions. Before joining NAM back in 2023, he worked in the investment oversight team for internally and externally managed traditional/alternative funds at a UK-based asset manager. Prior to that, he spent 3 years as co-portfolio manager for discretionary mandates and multi assets UCITS funds in a Swiss-Italian independent asset manager. He holds a Master of Science in Economics from Bocconi University in Milan and a Bachelor in Business & Management, with a major in Financial Market, from LUISS University in Rome. He is a CFA charter holder.

Investing in Health: A Global Perspective on Patient Care and System Strength
It’s time for investors in health care to put the focus back on patients. Peter Hughes, Fund Manager for the Redwheel Life Changing Treatments strategy, believes too many investors have become distracted by “innovation” as an investment theme in health care and he believes investors can uncover more commercially successful companies if they instead focus on solutions that produce the most life changing results for patients. Peter will explain the patient first approach to health care investing and its core themes of life changing drugs, life changing care and health system strengthening.
Workshop Objectives: Attendees will learn about the patient-first approach to health care investing and how this differs to other approaches, such as innovation-led. Attendees will learn about the long-term trends driving health care demand and some of the opportunities that exist for investors outside of the traditional high-income health care markets.
Company Profile: Redwheel is a specialist, independent investment organisation. Our active investment heritage is built on a foundation of innovation, origination and high conviction.
Our business was established in 2000 with a simple ambition: to create an environment in which exceptional fund managers can operate in a manner that allows them to maximise the benefits of their skills over the long-term.
We have always remained true to that ambition. Today, we have more than 174 people aligned to that goal, including 57 dedicated investment professionals working across seven independent investment teams.
There are three key attributes that define who we are:
• Autonomy
• Independence
• Ownership
Speakers
Peter Hughes

Peter joined Redwheel in July 2023 as a Partner and Portfolio Manager. He manages the Redwheel Life Changing Treatments strategy. His ambition for the role is to focus on improving patients’ lives, regardless of where they live by investing in companies facilitating improved health care outcomes while providing long-term capital appreciation for investors.
Before Redwheel, Peter was Portfolio Manager of the AXA World Funds Longevity Economy fund and AXA Framlington Health fund, specialising in healthcare. Before this, he held appointments at Architas, in roles covering investment research and relationship management.
Peter holds a PhD in biochemistry from University College London. He has a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Surrey and is a CFA Charterholder
Representatives
Roderick Loffler
Head of UK Wholesale, Middle East and South Africa

Roderick joined Redwheel in April 2011. At Redwheel, he is responsible for relationships with discretionary asset managers including banks, private banks, fund of funds, family offices, and private client managers in the UK, Middle East and South Africa. Roderick holds the Investment Manager Certificate (IMC).
Simon Rogers
Head of UK Strategic Partners, London & South East

Simon Rogers joined Redwheel in July 2021, previously Simon spent 20 year at Artemis Fund managers working in distribution focusing on Strategic Alliances, DFM’s and the intermediary community. Prior to this he worked as a portfolio manager at Singer & Friedlander.
David Keswick
Head of Global Family and Private Investment Offices

David is part of the UK Wholesale team managing GFO’s and GFI’s. He has been with Redwheel since 2009 and has been proud of being part of its incredible growth story ever since.
Prior to that, David has enjoyed successful careers at Jardine Fleming and JP Morgan, and working from Clochan to Kowloon.

Biotech for the Next Decade: Navigating opportunities and pitfalls of private market innovations
A new age of innovation is fueling breakthroughs across biotech, and we believe private companies are at the forefront of this progress. Precision oncology, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), immunomodulatory therapies, and a range of other novel modalities are positioned to fundamentally change the standard of care for patients around the globe over the next decade. In this session, we will discuss the state of the private biotech market, impacts of AI on drug discovery, and a philosophy for identifying opportunities and avoiding pitfalls in the space.
Workshop Objectives: Learn what Wellington’s private biotech team thinks about opportunities and challenges in biotech as the confluence of technological advances and increased scientific understanding drives a new age of innovation in drug development.
Company Profile: Wellington Management is an investment adviser to more than 2,400 institutions in over 60 countries. Our mission as a firm is simple: to exceed the investment objectives and service expectations of our clients worldwide. With more than US$1 trillion in client assets under management, we offer a broad range of equity, fixed income, alternative, and multi-asset investment approaches. We are a globally integrated community of investment professionals, and our most distinctive strength is our rigorous, proprietary research, which is shared collaboratively across all areas of the organization. We have offices in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia. (Figures as of 31st December 2023.)
Speakers
Nilesh Kumar
Head of Biotech Private Investments
.jpg)
Nilesh brings over 15 years of private biotech investment experience investing in early to late-stage life science companies.
Representatives
James Myhill
Associate Business Development Manager

As an Associate Business Development Manager in Wellington Management’s UK institutional group, James leads our UK Defined Contribution book of business where he is responsible for developing relationships and managing our existing clients. James also leads our partnerships with a number of our UK local based consultant firms across a wide range of channels.

Accessing transformative themes through indexing
Equity market performance has recently been driven by the artificial intelligence mega trend. A select group of stocks has captured most of the benefits, but now faces high investor expectations for future growth. Looking beyond the past winners will be crucial to participating in the next wave of AI innovation and other emerging growth themes. Thematic index investing can be a powerful tool, making trends investable while mitigating some of the risks associated with traditional growth or tech allocations.
Workshop Objectives:
1. Explore the role of thematic investing approaches in a portfolio.
2. Identify potential growth themes beyond artificial intelligence.
Understand the key principles of passive thematic index construction and how they shape investment exposure and characteristics
Company Profile: Xtrackers, the passive solutions platform by DWS has one of the largest and most established product ranges in Europe, with a global presence and more than €200 billion [incl. mandates] in assets under management (as of July, 2024). Xtrackers has an index track record going back over 20 years and offers a broad range of efficient, high-quality ETFs and ETCs on all major asset classes – equities, bonds and commodities, as well as bespoke strategies through index funds and segregated mandates. Xtrackers provides numerous building blocks across all wrappers for traditional investment strategies, ESG strategies (environmental, social, governance), sector and factor investments, as well as innovative products on thematic investments and future trends.
Speakers
Lukas Ahnert
Senior Product Specialist - Xtrackers Index Strategy & Analytics
%20(3).jpg)
Lukas Ahnert is part of the Xtrackers Index Strategy & Analytics team within the DWS Product Division. In his role, he is particularly involved in the design and analysis of passive index strategies, including the Xtrackers ETF range. Lukas Ahnert joined DWS in 2018 and holds a Master in Finance from the University of St. Gallen and a Master in Economics from the University of St. Andrews.
Representatives
Toby Dudley-Smith
Team Lead Coverage Xtrackers UK

Toby joined from Amundi, where he spent two years in the ETF, Indexing and Smart Beta Sales team, covering UK clients, covering asset and wealth managers as well as family offices. Prior to that he headed up the Equity Investment solutions desk at Julius Baer, and, prior to its takeover, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management for seven years. He previously held other roles within the Merrill Lynch organisation, including equity sales trader.
MA in History from University of Edinburgh
Jasvinder Gill
Senior Xtrackers Sales, DWS

Jasvinder is part of the UK Xtrackers team in DWS covering intermediary sales channels, specifically private banks and family offices. She joined Deutsche Asset Management in June 2015 in the Singapore based Intermediary Sales team driving regional business development for hedge funds, private markets and active funds. Prior to Deutsche Asset Management, she worked in Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Global Fixed Income Product Management team covering Australian Fixed Income, Liquidity and Multi-Asset Strategies. She started her career in Nikko Asset Management (Singapore)’s Product team, responsible for new product development and product management.