Asset management firm TOBAM has appointed Philippe Bigeard as Head of Business Development for France.
Bigeard will spearhead a new business drive in TOBAM’s native France, as the manager looks to expand the breadth of its client base. TOBAM has built its AUM to date from global institutional investors across Europe, US and Asia, and has firmly established its international footprint.
Bigeard will be responsible for growing the firm’s base of insurance companies, wealth managers and banks in France. French investors currently account for 5 per cent of TOBAM’s total AUM.
The appointment is the latest in a series of developments that marks a new phase of TOBAM’s growth in France. In 2018, the firm signed a distribution partnership with the renowned distribution platform MyFunds Office, followed by the expansion of the Anti-Benchmark Multi-Asset offering to IFAs and distributors in May 2019.
A former Group Head of Product Marketing, Bigeard brings over twenty-years’ experience in sales strategy and business development. In his newly created role, Bigeard will oversee business development initiatives to promote TOBAM’s Maximum Diversification® strategies. He will be reporting to Christophe Roehri, Deputy CEO and Head of Business development.
Bigeard joins from CACEIS, where he had served as Group Head of Product Marketing for the past two years and was responsible for launching a new Marketing function. Prior to this, he was Business Development Director for seven years, overseeing the new businesses, the client satisfaction and sales strategy for 100 French institutional clients and 60 non-resident asset managers.
Prior to joining CACEIS in 2003 as Senior Sales Manager, Bigeard worked for a couple of years at Credit Agricole Indosuez Luxembourg as sales covering European asset managers, family offices and private banks.
Bigeard holds a Master of Applied Economics in Monetary and Banking activities from University of Dauphine, Paris IX and a MSc in Corporate Finance from Lille Graduate School of Management.
Christophe Roehri, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Philippe to TOBAM’s team. We have seen a steady increase in demand for our offering in the country over the past years. Philippe’s in-depth understanding of the French institutional market combined with his wide experience in business development makes him the perfect candidate to lead our expansion in France. Since 2014, our offering has been constantly evolving to meet the needs of investors – from purely equity, to a well-developed range of credit funds and with the recent expansion of our Multi-Asset strategy earlier this year, we are now well-positioned to further strengthen our presence in France”.
Philippe Bigeard added: “TOBAM has an unrivalled reputation for offering unique, disciplined and sophisticated products to global institutional investors for a decade. The legitimacy the firm has built over the years by servicing some of the largest public pensions funds in the world makes it a very exciting prospect. I really look forward to contributing to the firm’s growth in France and contributing to the next chapter in the firm’s growth story”.
