New London wealth manager launches
A new wealth management firm has launched in London, in a bid to tap the pool of nervous wealthy clients seeking value and advice from money managers.
Cerno Capital, managed by former equities analysts James Spence and Nicholas Hornby, will work with high net worth individuals, act as a multi-family office for affluent families, and advise on charitable endowments.
The firm will focus on focus on investing with employee-owned asset managers, and has no particular country bias. The firm's portfolios span long-only equity, equity hedge, special situations, sector specialist, venture capital and macro strategies.
“We have a bias toward fund managers who invest with a clear notion of fundamental value and avoid strategies that depend on leverage for results,” said Nick Hornby.
“We are agnostic as to whether managers are traditional long-only or hedge, we care more about the ability of the individuals and their commitment to their investment strategy.”
“This is a great time to launch a wealth management business,” said James Spence, co-managing partner of the new firm.
“Many of our clients have high cash weightings, sense opportunity and are seeking advice on how best to position their portfolios. We are beginning to see some good value opportunities and would advocate increasing exposure to equities over the next 18 months.”
Cerno will be advised by several industry veterans, including George Robinson and Hugh Sloane of Sloane Robinson, Richard Oldfield of Oldfield Partners, Martin Smith, co-founder of private investment bank Phoenix Securities and former deputy chairman of New Star Asset Management, and Russell Napier, the Edinburgh-based global market strategist.
The news comes after a survey by Prince Associates, a research firm for the wealth industry, showed 80% of high net worth Americans intend to take their money away from their existing adviser.
The research also discovered that more than 85% of the wealthy intend to tell fellow investors to avoid their advisers. If this proves to be the case, referrals from other wealthy clients – one of the most successful ways of acquiring clients – is starting to work in reverse.
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