Sascha Steinmeier (45 years) joined ECP in early March to support the development of ECP`s distribution activities, especially in the German speaking area.

Active in the financial industry since more than 20 years, Sascha has been responsible for the distribution of investment funds from 2007 to 2015; first for Nomura Asset Management and then for a German Independent Asset Manager. Prior to that he worked as an entrepreneur and was distinguished for his founded Education-Fund with a German Start-Up Award in 2005.

Léon Kirch, Partner and CIO of European Capital Partners, says: “We are very glad to welcome Sascha in our team. His work experience fully demonstrates an entrepreneurial spirit which perfectly fits with our corporate culture. We are convinced that his deep knowledge of the German Fund Market and his strong relationships with target investors will be valuable to successfully extend ECP`s fund business”.

Sascha Steinmeier adds: “I’ve been really impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit of the ECP team and by the solidity of the investment approach; In a period of strong growth of passive investment solutions, few active and high conviction managers have rigorously and faithfully applied the same investment strategy for more than 15 years like Léon Kirch has done since now. I’m really convinced that ECP’ products can offer investors a real added value”.

Launched end of 2014, the European equity strategy of ECP is based on a long-term approach to equity markets and aims to provide investors with an institutional expertise in an entrepreneurial framework. The strategy applied goes back to the roots of Value Investing defined 90 years ago by Benjamin Graham and implemented since 2002 by Léon Kirch.

The sub-fund gives access to two strategies with complementary risk profiles: a traditional strategy focusing on a selection of European companies (Core strategy) as well as a more cautious strategy (Market Hedged strategy) which combines the selection of European companies with a dynamic management of the equity net exposure aimed at reducing volatility.

Léon Kirch explains: “Since the launch of the strategy, the support from Luxembourg investors has enabled us to increase the assets under management of the sub-fund to around EUR 65mn (CHF 69mn). With more than two years of track record, the development towards other European markets is a logical step which should allow us to bring the strategy to a more institutional size. The choice of Germany and Switzerland was made naturally, given the dynamism of the fund market in these two countries and the cultural proximity with our domestic market, Luxembourg”.

The sub-fund is already available from several major platforms in Germany and will be in the course of the year from other platforms in Switzerland and Germany. The strategy is available for institutional clients through dedicated share classes or in the form of segregated mandates.