Twelve Capital aims for further growth with new London office

Swiss headquartered specialist insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance-linked investment manager Twelve Capital has announced the opening of a London office and its authorisation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a MiFID investment firm.

Only four years after launch, in which time the firm has gone from $100m of insurance-linked assets under management to $3.5 billion, Twelve Capital sees a base in the heart of London as a key strategic position as it aims for its next phase of growth. The firm believes the new office will enhance its investment and business development activities by positioning it in the key insurance trading and finance market.

Twelve Capital has grown from a team of 7 to now over 30, announcing a new ILS analytics hire and team just yesterday, in the four years of its operations and the new London office sees it reveal some more hires made this year. The firm sees being positioned in London as a good way to gain access to a pool of insurance and capital markets talents which will benefit its current and future investors alike.

The London office is also seen as important as it will enable full integration in the London market, which the firm says is vital to further facilitate interaction with market participants such as the major insurance brokerage houses, investment banks and the insurance companies themselves. This supports Twelve Capital’s goal of sourcing of select and superior investment opportunities in the insurance-linked space. The physical presence in London also puts the firm in close proximity to a large institutional investor base which will help it to achieve its next growth goals.

The Twelve Capital London team, consisting of investment specialists and sales people, is fully integrated and works closely with the Zurich-based specialists. The London team consists of employees with extensive investment and insurance experience and includes Chairman Dr. Urs Ramseier.

Ramseier commented on the office opening; “We are excited to open our office in the City. We want to be close to our clients, the broker community, the big insurance houses and of course Europe’s prime capital market. Moreover, we are convinced that London offers an excellent talent pool for exactly the specialists we need.”

Currently, Twelve Capitals’s London team consists of:

Dr. Urs Ramseier, Partner, Chairman and CIO, has relocated from Zurich to London and will lead the London team. He has acquired considerable knowledge in the area of insurance investing and managing credit risks as a sell side and subsequently as a buy side analyst. Before founding Twelve Capital he was Head of ILS at Horizon21.

Andrew Townend, Partner, Senior Credit Analyst and Insurance Debt Portfolio Manager. Prior to joining Twelve Capital in 2012 he was Vice President at Swiss Re in London responsible for analysing and managing credit risk.

Laura Santori, Partner, Senior Credit Analyst and Insurance Debt Portfolio Manager, gained her experience in credit analysis and ALM working for Institutions such as Standard & Poor’s, Towers Perrin, Assicurazioni Generali and Bacon & Woodrow in London, Hong Kong and Paris.

Mark Wauton, Director, Senior Portfolio Manager, joined Twelve Capital in July 2014 to further strengthen the investment process across all strategies. Prior to joining Twelve Capital he was Head of Credit at Aviva Investors in London where he managed a team running assets in excess of GBP 14bn.

Dinesh Pawar, Director, Portfolio Management and Head of Trading, joined Twelve Capital in 2014. Before joining Twelve Capital he was Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Alpha Trading at Aviva Investors from 2009-2013.

Richard Guerin, Director, Consultant Relations, joined Twelve Capital in 2014. Prior to this position he was Head of Consultant Relations for Macquarie Investment Management. Before that Richard spent over 15 years with Blackrock in its Consultants Relationship team.