Hedge fund specialist investment manager K2 Advisors, a unit of investment firm Franklin Templeton, has named Michael Rich to lead its insurance-linked securities (ILS) strategies, after Jonathan Malawer departed the firm.
Michael Rich has been named Head of ILS, Commodities and Environmental Strategies, taking on the role Malawer had held.
Malawer had worked at K2 Advisors and Franklin Templeton for 14 years, building up the investment firms catastrophe bond and insurance or reinsurance linked strategies and funds offering.
Malawer departed K2 last year, to help launch a new climate risk focused investment firm named Pier61 Partners LLC.
Pier61 Partners is linked to an established asset manager Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC, mentioned in its Form ADV and having a trademark filing linked to Lighthouse from December.
Lighthouse Investment Partners manages around $14 billion in assets and focuses on strategies that offer diversification to traditional markets.
A Franklin Templeton spokesperson commented on Malawer’s departure, “Jonathan was instrumental in building the K2 ILS and Cat Bond strategies since joining the firm and we thank him for his tremendous contribution to K2 Advisors.”
Michael Rich has worked at K2 Advisors since 2011 when he joined the firm as a research analyst. He has specialised in analysing asset classes and worked on the ILS and cat bond fund strategies at K2 and Franklin Templeton for a number of years.
Rich has also been promoted to Portfolio Manager and so will manage the day-to-day investment operations for funds including Franklin Templeton’s catastrophe bond strategy.
“Mike has worked alongside Jonathan for the last ten years and is well positioned to step into the role, providing continuity to the team’s investment process and relationships within the ILS investment community,” the spokesperson told us.
Rich will report to Anthony Zanolla, Co-Head of Investment Management for K2 Advisors.
Going forwards, Rich will be the lead portfolio manager for the FTAF Franklin K2 Cat Bond Strategy and Zanolla will also act as a PM to the Strategy. Zanolla has been an investor in the ILS and cat bond markets since 2005.
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