Ex-Bear Stearns manager launches UK funds house
Richard Werner, formerly a fund manager at Bear Stearns Asset Management and an economic adviser to the Bank of Japan, has established a UK asset management firm.
Providence Asset Management, based in Winchester in the UK, has already received mandates from Austrian private bank Spaengler and Japanese firm Aizawa Securities to run funds expected to hold over $60m (€39m) after they launch within the next six months. The UK’s Financial Services Authority authorised the firm last month, opening the way for the firm to launch funds for UK and European retail investors.
Werner holds the chair in international banking at the University of Southampton’s school of management and has held advisory positions at a number of Japanese institutions including the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan. Most of the firm’s administrative functions will be outsourced until it grows large enough to run its own functions, Werner said.
He will manage the funds by investing assets in derivatives and financial instruments to gain exposure to markets, rather than by holding individual equities and corporate bonds.
Werner said: “Most people analyse markets on a macroeconomic level by analysing central banks’ interest rate policies. A better way to analyse and forecast market moves is by analysing credit creation and the amount of money in circulation.”
Werner managed the Bear Stearns Global Alpha fund which launched in February 2006. The fund, which held $35m at its peak, wound down at the end of last year after Bear Stearns’ tarnished reputation resulted in investors shying away from investing in the firm’s funds, according to Werner, who hopes that investors in the fund might shift their assets to be managed at Providence.
Bear Stearns did not return calls for comment.
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