Union Bancaire Privée, (UBP) has formed a strategic partnership with London-based boutique investment manager Crux Asset Management to strengthen the bank’s Asia equity investment offering.
Crux will advise UBP on its Asia equity funds and mandates, while UBP will provide investors in Asia with exclusive access to Crux’s equity products.
“The dynamism and growth potential in Asian markets stand out globally…This partnership enables us to offer our clients actively managed best-in-class strategies,” Nicolas Faller, co-CEO Asset Management at UBP, said in a statement
Set up in 2014, Crux is an active equity investment manager with £1.7bn ($2.3bn) of assets under management. The firm’s three core equity teams focus on Europe, the UK and Asia to offer investment products based on bottom-up, high-conviction stock selection. In September 2021, Crux hired Ewan Markson-Brown from Baillie Gifford and Damian Taylor from Martin Currie, two seasoned Asia equity fund managers, to build out its Asia equity franchise.
“The rapid adoption of new technologies, a rising middle class, and the financialisation of Asian economies has created a rich, diverse opportunity set full of change and underappreciated growth,” said Karen Zachary, CEO of Crux Asset Management.
Wealth manager UBP is based in Geneva, and holds CHF 160.4bn ($174bn) in assets under management, as at 31 December 2021.
Last month, it hired former Citigroup banker Anthony Kao to head a newly-created Asia advisory solutions team, comprises all equity, fixed income and fund specialists in Hong Kong and Singapore. In the past year, UBP has several notable appointments in Asia, including Ling Vey-Sern as senior equity advisor, Asia technology, Nicolas Wang, senior equity advisor, Asia healthcare, and Frankie Tong as head of investment consulting, North Asia.
