Berenberg has appointed Ralf Walter (51) as portfolio manager in its Wealth & Asset Management equity team.
Walter joins from Allianz Global Investors, where he was most recently responsible for market-neutral equity strategies. He will be based in Frankfurt and report directly to Matthias Born, Co-Head Asset & Wealth Management and Head of the Equity Platform.
With the appointment of Walter, Berenberg is strengthening its equity platform and paving the way for the expansion of the fund offering of Germany’s oldest private bank. To date, Berenberg offers nine equity funds, as well as eight bond and five multi-asset funds. Further fund launches to complement the focussed range are planned. These include further equity strategies, such as in the long-short segment for European equities as well as for small companies outside Europe.
Matthias Born, Co-Head Asset & Wealth Management and Head of the Equity Platform at Berenberg, says: “With Ralf Walter we have been able to win over a very experienced fund manager. Ralph brings many years of experience in the field of alternative equity strategies and, he will be a great asset to our equities team. His expertise is a great addition to our established fund management business, particularly for investors who want to achieve absolute returns with limited market exposure based on Berenberg’s stock-picking expertise.”
Walter has 20 years of experience in equity fund management. The graduate economist began his career in 1998 at ADIG, followed by Cominvest and Allianz Global Investors, where he was responsible for Germany’s oldest equity fund, Fondak. He was responsible for classic long-only portfolios as well as for market-neutral long-short strategies and the funds he managed received several awards over the years. In 2011, he was jointly responsible for the implementation and initiation of the market-neutral fund Allianz Discovery Germany Strategy, of which he was also the responsible fund manager.
The Wealth & Asset Management of Germany’s oldest private bank has grown strongly in the past three years. Currently, the investment experts manage over 33 billion euros of assets. Recently, the bank was named Germany’s best asset management by the magazine Euro, and the fund rating agency Lipper named Berenberg Wealth and Asset Management the best fund manager in Germany in the small asset manager category and the best equity fund manager in Europe, Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the same category.
Berenberg’s strategy is based on a long-term quality growth approach with careful handpicked stock selection. The firm invests in quality companies of all sizes that generate high returns on equity and sustainable growth rates over long periods of time, and that are relatively independent of economic growth.
