Mirabaud Asset Management has hired David Basola as head of business development activities for the Italian market.

The arrival of Basola is another milestone in the implementation of the development strategy that Mirabaud Asset Management has been applying since 2011.

Basola will serve the needs both of institutional and wholesale investors in Italy, Malta, Monaco and Ticino (Switzerland), being based initially in the London office of Mirabaud Asset Management Ltd.

Basola holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Milan and has graduated from the London School of Economics’ executive programme.

He began his career as a portfolio manager in Italy with JP Morgan and within the Credit Suisse group before moving to business development functions at GAIM Advisors, a London based alternative asset management division of Integrated Asset Management Plc. Since 2006, Basola has held various business development positions within the Syz Group in Italy promoting long-only and alternative investments to the Italian investor community.

Bertrand Bricheux, head of sales and marketing for Mirabaud Asset Management, said: “We are very pleased to have a specialist of both long-only and alternative investments like David on our team, particularly given the importance of the Italian market. Italy is a key market in Europe for funds and we are convinced that the focused, boutique approach of an investment specialist like Mirabaud Asset Management will fit very well with investors who are in search for quality, integrity and long-term risk adjusted performance.”

Basola added: “The commitment of Mirabaud Asset Management to develop the Italian market in a step by step long-term approach and its positioning as a specialised boutique, backed by an extraordinary history of close to 200 years of passion for investment and an impressive hiring of highly talented and committed fund managers, is the ideal formula to succeed in Italy given the potential of the country and its highly competitive nature. The product offering combining some alternative funds with 40 years of track record and high quality, specialised, long-only expertise made the entire value proposition compelling.”

This recruitment follows a series of high-profile appointments at Mirabaud Asset Management since 2011, which include, among others, Dan Tubbs (formerly of Blackrock), Anu Narula (formerly of Axa Framlington), Nicolas Crémieux (formerly of Dexia AM), Andrew Lake (formerly of Aviva Investors), Fatima Luis (formerly of F&C) and Kirill Pyshkin (formerly of Aviva Investors), and most recently Isabelle Richard (formerly of Candriam, previously known as Dexia Asset Management).

Mirabaud Asset Management

With offices in Barcelona, Geneva, London, Paris, and Zurich, and CHF8 billion in assets under management, Mirabaud Group’s asset management division focuses exclusively on active management.

Its offering includes:

• fund management with investment in domestic and international equities
• flexible fixed-income, convertible bonds and high-yield bonds
• alternative investments
• dynamic asset allocation

Mirabaud Asset Management’s investment philosophy is to create performance based on a long-term vision and deep convictions guided by transparent processes, drawing on Mirabaud’s almost 200 years of uninterrupted experience in asset management.