Join us for NGF Boutiques 2024

We're pleased to announce that NGF Boutiques will be returning to the prestigious Pan Pacific London in 2024. This established and popular event offers efficient access to six interesting and talented managers, taking place on the morning of Thursday 2nd May, allowing you to return to the office in the afternoon.

NGF Boutiques focuses on specialist groups, multi-boutiques and innovative small firms, helping you diversify your portfolios with unique perspectives. As part of the Next Generation Forum (NGF) portfolio of events, NGF Boutiques showcases fresh and interesting investment ideas from these esoteric groups and managers. Attendance is by invitation only, ensuring a peer-driven and engaging experience.

Register now

Sponsors

Programme

Delegates will attend six 40-minute sessions during the morning, Three concurrent meetings run at each timeslot in three separate meeting rooms, so the six sponsors present in alternate sessions. Delegates will be divided into small groups of 5-7 and allocated to one of these three rooms. Each group of delegates will see the speakers in a different order, ensuring you see them all by the end of the event. Your personal agenda, received on the morning of the event, will outline the manager viewing order.

Please note that the following programme is for illustrative purposes only and does not indicate the order in which you will see the speakers at the event.

Time Session Topic
08:30 - 08:50 Registration
08:50 - 09:30 Impax Asset Management → Social leaders in the transition to a more sustainable economy →
09:30 - 10:10 Lansdowne Partners → A differentiated approach to seeking European equity opportunities →
10:10 - 10:15 Comfort break
10:15 - 10:55 Nedgroup Investments → How can a Contrarian Value approach reward investors with long-term growth? →
10:55 - 11:10 Coffee
11:10 - 11:50 New Capital → The case for Emerging Markets ex. China →
11:50 - 12:30 Pacific Asset Management → Thinking Differently in North America →
12:30 - 12:35 Comfort break
12:35 - 13:15 Vontobel Asset Management → Energy Revolution: Driving Tomorrow's Energy Commitments, Today →
13:15 Lunch

Speakers

Impax Asset Management

Social leaders in the transition to a more sustainable economy

In this session, Charlie will discuss Impax’s proprietary social taxonomy, the thesis behind allocating to this theme, and how research links social factors to corporate outperformance. Naturally, this can lead to market inefficiencies. The combination of 25 years of thematic active management and quantitative behavioural analysis makes this a unique proposition.

Charles French

Deputy Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Listed Investments

Charles is a co-Portfolio Manager of the Impax Global Social Leaders strategy. He provides support and leadership in the development and growth of Impax Asset Management’s listed investments business, covering research, idea generation, portfolio management, ESG integration, and trading. Prior to joining Impax Asset Management in 2022, Charles worked at Newton Investment Management where he started out as a global financial analyst before becoming a portfolio manager and heading up Newton’s multi-asset and equity opportunities teams. He was also deputy chief investment officer, providing leadership and oversight to a global investment team. Charles graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Nottingham. He is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) in England and Wales.

Lansdowne Partners

A differentiated approach to seeking European equity opportunities

Following Lansdowne Partners’ acquisition of CRUX Asset Management in August 2023, Daniel Avigad and his team took on the management of the recently renamed TM Lansdowne European Special Situations Fund, a significant development making their differentiated Lansdowne European strategy widely accessible to UK based investors for the first time. Daniel will explain his distinct process of seeking long-term investments in European equities based on deep due diligence, fundamental analysis and active engagement; an approach that has quietly achieved striking results.

Daniel Avigad

Partner & Portfolio Manager

Daniel Avigad joined Lansdowne Partners in April 2006 and is the Portfolio Manager for the European Strategy. Prior to joining Lansdowne, Daniel worked for five years in the Pan-European telecoms services equities research team at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein which was ranked 1st in the 2005 Extel Survey. Daniel holds a master’s degree with distinction in Information Technology and a first class honours for his bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering with Mathematics from the University of Nottingham. Daniel is a Chartered Financial Analyst. In his free time, Daniel enjoys spending time with his two daughters and is an avid long-distance runner. Daniel has been a Partner of the firm since April 2011.

Nedgroup Investments

How can a Contrarian Value approach reward investors with long-term growth?

Since 1993, California-based FPA, have applied a disciplined approach to value investing to deliver positive long-term returns, outperforming value and core global equity peers. Now available to UK investors, the bedrock of this strategy is:
1. An investment framework that identifies undervalued compounders, commercial opportunities and special situations, with long-term growth prospects.
2. An absolute return mindset that emphasises preserving capital while seeking market-beating returns.
3. A team structure that unlocks a best ideas portfolio regardless of geography and sector.
With market concentration on the rise, co-portfolio manager, Brian Selmo, shares why contrarian value investing can help investors generate long-term growth without the pitfalls of traditional value investing.

Brian Selmo

Portfolio Manager, First Pacific Advisors

Brian Selmo joined the firm in 2008. He serves as Portfolio Manager and Director of Research for the FPA Contrarian Value Strategy. Prior to joining FPA, Brian was Founder and Managing Member of Eagle Lake Capital, LLC, and Portfolio Manager of its predecessor. Brian earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (with honours) from Johns Hopkins University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

New Capital

The case for Emerging Markets ex. China

PM Fergus Argyle will discuss some of the best investment opportunities in the fastest growing emerging economies, excluding China. As one of the first dedicated emerging market products to exclude China, the team is focused purely on opportunities in these economies which offer an unusual combination of structural appeal at cyclically and relatively depressed valuations. Whilst China confounds investors with speculation about the timing and nature of stimulus, the remaining emerging economies are seeing inflation fall faster than their developed peers; positive real rates and falling interest costs. The opportunity set is broad with record IPOs in recent years.

Fergus Argyle

Portfolio Manager

Fergus Argyle is the co-portfolio manager for the New Capital Emerging Markets Future Leaders Fund. He joined EFG Asset Management in 2022, having previously worked for five years at Somerset Capital, an emerging markets boutique, where he co-managed the Frontier Markets Fund and was a senior analyst. Prior to that, he spent two years at Mobius Capital as a partner and investment manager. He started his career at BlackRock and spent five years as a credit and equity analyst. Fergus has a MA (Hons) degree in Classics from the University of Oxford, which included studying at the Saïd Business School. He also studied Arabic at the University of Damascus and in Sana’a, Yemen.

Pacific Asset Management

Thinking Differently in North America

Launched in April 2023, Pacific North American Opportunities is managed by Chris Fidyk, former Partner and Portfolio Manager at Findlay Park. The strategy is unconstrained, high tracking error and concentrated in nature, with 25-35 investments in under-researched companies across the market cap spectrum.

This limited capacity strategy is unwaveringly dedicated to generating alpha for long-term clients, thus preventing excess AuM from compromising the investment process. Chris will share his vision and philosophy for this ultra-high conviction strategy, recounting his first year at PAM and conveying his excitement for the opportunity-set outside of the magnificent 7 where in-depth research presents compelling risk-reward profiles.

Chris Fidyk

Portfolio Manager

Chris Fidyk joined the Pacific team in 2022 after 12 years at Findlay Park Partners LLP, for six of those he was Partner and Portfolio Manager. During his time, Chris evaluated and directed investments for a $15bn long-only North American equity fund with a long-term track record of outperformance. Prior to Findlay Park, Chris held multiple roles in investment management and investment banking focused on the healthcare sector.

Vontobel Asset Management

Energy Revolution: Driving Tomorrow's Energy Commitments, Today

This is the Industrial Revolution of our time – a complete transformation of how we harvest, manage and consume energy. Vontobel’s Energy Revolution Fund is designed to grasp every aspect of this energy transition by strategically investing in three key sectors: transition materials essential for the mineral heavy shift, low-carbon energy sources like natural gas for interim solutions, and renewable energy technologies for the electrification of our society. Romain will introduce their approach, balancing short-term stability with long-term sustainability and targeting robust and diversified returns whilst advancing the global energy transformation.

Romain Hohl

Portfolio Manager

Romain Hohl joined Vontobel in 2015. As a Portfolio Manager in the Impact & Thematic Investing team within the Vontobel Conviction Equities Boutique, he is responsible for the Energy Revolution strategy and other thematic investment strategies. Before joining Vontobel, he developed various quantitative factor models and portfolio construction tools to automate processes and support equity portfolio managers in security selection. Romain holds a Master of Science in Finance from HEC Lausanne and is also a CFA® charterholder.

Venue

Pan Pacific London
80 Houndsditch, London EC3A 7AB

The Pan Pacific London is located just a 5-minute walk from Liverpool Street station which is a central London railway terminus for the Overground and connected to these London Underground lines: Circle, Central, Elizabeth, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan. Moorgate station, a 10-minute walk from the hotel, is connected to the Northern line.

Once again, we have booked the hotel’s Market Square suite exclusively. Market Square is a relaxed creative meeting space on level three, flooded with natural daylight through floor-to-ceiling windows, and equipped with 4K LED screens, video and audio conferencing.

Registration, the boardroom sessions, refreshments and lunch will all take place in this private space on the third floor.

Contact

For further information on NGF Boutiques, NGF Events or Infusion Event Management, please contact:

Sally Doyle, Director
07881 957350

sally.doyle@infusionevents.com