Armed hedges, in France
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Unigestion, a Geneva-based asset manager specializing in alternative investments like hedge funds, has opened an office in Paris, France in order to be able to offer its clients a fund that is not Swiss. Chief executive officer Patrick Fenal says in an interview with Bloomberg 21 October that Unigestion lost a mandate from a potential client because the company is Swiss. The new fund is managed by a French team in Paris and is registered in France.
Most Swiss private banks are already present in the major European Union financial centres, and can market their own funds to EU citizens directly. A source at Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch, a Geneva private bank, told GenevaLunch that he did not see how Unigestion’s move could improve its marketing success with clients, except for the one potential client, already lost.
