The former CEO of State Street France Raphaël Remond and Jeremy Touboul, previously a fund manager at H2O, have set up a new asset management firm focused on sustainability.
LIOR Global Partners will concentrate on absolute return solutions and will integrate ESG into the global macro investment process across credit, equities, sovereign bonds and currency investments.
Initially launched in the UK, the group will roll out into France and the US in the coming months with the business expanding across the globe over time.
Touboul and Remond are joined by Pierre-Jean Rouleau, most recently head of macro trading for Pictet Group Americas, and Gad Moyal, a quant fund manager with expertise gained at Edmond de Rothschild AM and Societe Generale CIB.
Touboul and the investment team use macroeconomic research, valuation metrics, technical indicators and quantitative tools to assess value, and blend quantitative models with human analysis to make investment decisions. They also employ Sustainalytics data to assess a company’s ESG approach and exclude coal, tobacco, controversial weapons from the portfolios.
LIOR has already launched its first fund – the Luxembourg-domiciled LIOR GP – Alpha Fund, Global Macro Absolute Return Fund – to UK institutional investors and wholesale investors in Monaco and Luxembourg initially. It targets high single digit annualised return over a three-year investment horizon with target volatility of 5-10%.
Commenting on the launch of the business, co-founder and CIO Touboul said: “The fundamentals behind global macro are as relevant as ever and we’re excited about launching the business at this time. Not only is there a lack of capacity in the asset class, but we believe there is real demand for an approach that integrates ESG and early investor sentiment has been very positive.
“Covid created a bigger inflection point in a market that was already witnessing economic and market fragility, and as we look forward global macro has a strong role to play in delivering positive returns with contained volatility. By incorporating ESG into the investment process we can reduce investment risk over time and hopefully lead the way in how global macro can evolve and contribute towards positive change over the coming years.”
Co-founder and COO Remond added: “We are excited about the journey that lies ahead of us. With LIOR, our vision is to build a truly sustainable business that can contribute to making a difference. At the core of the business is an equal emphasis on both risk management and performance, a systematic approach to ESG, together with a commitment to distributing 10% of our company’s net profits to charity each year.”
