DNCA, an affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management, has appointed Pascal Gilbert and François Collet, two well-renowned international absolute return bond fund specialists.
The appointments of Gilbert and Collet round out DNCA’s Absolute Return teams, while extending its bond portfolio management capabilities. This new team will enable DNCA to offer new absolute return strategies on international bonds.
Gilbert, 54, has held various posts since 1988: head of proprietary trading at Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, then euro area bond portfolio manager at Banque de Financement et de Trésorerie. He joined La Française des Placements in 2001 (which later became La Française AM in 2011) as head of bond funds, where he was in charge of a team of seven staff and managed more than EUR15bn in assets.
Collet, 37, joined Natixis Global Asset Management as a bond fund manager in 2003. For three years he managed three bond funds with total AuM of EUR750million. In 2006, he joined La Française AM and worked in Pascal Gilbert’s team as deputy head of bond portfolio management, more particularly in charge of the inflation theme. He was head of five bond strategy funds over eleven years, with total assets under management of EUR2.6bn.
The pair will set up absolute return bond investment strategies on a global asset universe and inflation strategies, which will be launched before the end of the year.
These appointments reflect DNCA’s clear aim to keep on offering new portfolio management strategies aimed at providing sustainable and defensive performances suited to investors’ varying requirements and today’s market environment.
Collet says: “In the current context where long only bond funds no longer harbour performance potential, we are convinced that our bond expertise can fully meet our investors’ needs. The crux of our strategy is based on an active and transparent fund management approach, which is perfectly in sync with DNCA’s portfolio management philosophy.”
CEO Eric Franc says: “We are delighted to announce that Pascal and François have joined the team and we welcome their expertise, which rounds out our existing capabilities.”
