RMB Capital has joined forces with Mendon Capital Advisors to manage a long/short, financial services-focused US equity strategy.
The strategy and team, led by portfolio manager Anton Schutz, will be part of RMB’s alternative investments unit, known as Iron Road Capital Partners.
“Iron Road was established with the intention that we would continue to add strategies to the platform,” says Blair Haarlow, managing principal, Iron Road Capital Partners. “The key is to find managers that are a good fit, in that they recognise the benefits of our model and complement the other alternative investments we offer. With its exclusive focus on the financial services sector, this strategy fills a niche investment category not covered by our existing strategies—long/short stressed debt and another long/short US equity strategy that specifically excludes financials and energy stocks.”
Schutz defined and implemented his event-driven investment strategy in 1996 and has been managing it ever since. His expertise is augmented by assistant portfolio manager Russell Echlov, who worked for Mendon Capital Advisors from 1997-2001, accumulated additional experience in both public and private financial-sector equity, and recently rejoined the team.
“By joining forces with RMB, we’re able to bolster our infrastructure with the firm’s robust operational expertise and capabilities related to technology, compliance, and other back-office functions,” says Schutz. “It’s a level of support that is going to allow me to spend the majority of my time doing what I love most—identifying catalysts linked to financial stocks through local, on-the-ground research and managing the investment strategy based on those findings.”
