H2O Asset Management Profile
Global Macro Discretionary boutique was established in 2010 by Vincent Chailley and Bruno Crastes and is backed by NGAM, one of Europe’s biggest asset managers.
The program’s inception began in March 2011, and the firm’sassets under management or ‘AUM’ totals $7.0 Billion as of 12/31/2014. H2O Asset Management is based in London, United Kingdom, with principals CEO Bruno Crastes, Deputy CEO Jean-Noel Alba, CIO Vincent Chailley, Client Portfolio Manager Marc Maudhuit, and COO Julie Mulcahy.
H2O Asset Management’s Investment Goal is to provide risk-adjusted performance at portfolio level as well as liquidity and transparency with markets traded in the following industries:
• Technical Financial/Metals
• Fundamental Financial/Metals
• Discretionary
• Single Advisor Funds
Investment Strategy
The H2O Asset Management investment strategy is a pure alpha investment vehicle that increases the returns on asset allocation portfolios while significantly limiting the volatility risks involving limited capital investments. The company’s investment philosophy is based on the premise that value diversification is the most robust and stable source of alpha over a long period of time.
All-out diversification is applied across all assets via manager expertise and widened investment horizons. This gives the company a stronger capacity to make better decisions, and produce consistent and stable risk-adjusted performance. In order to generate alpha, H2O Asset Management follows a qualitative investment process, monitoring the risks associated to properly calibrate the diversified strategies.
The company believes that there is no single position has any meaning outside the return context. A certain view evolves as it is affected by a set of factors delivered by fund managers, developed as a risk-on, or a risk-off at a given horizon. These views are qualitative, which are then translated into forecasts that are quantitative, while past volatilities are taken into account using the Black and Litterman methodology.
Key Personnel
Bruno Crastes, CEO
Mr. Crastes started his career as a bond portfolio manager in 1989, working in the Indosuez Asset Management fixed income department. In 1994, he was appointed as Deputy Head of the department. When Indosuez AM merged with Segespar and became the CAAM in 1997, Bruno Crastes was appointed as the Head of Global Fixed Income and Currency Management.
He was then promoted to Deputy CEO and CIO of the London Branch of CAAM in 2002, and became its CEO in 2005. For 3 years until 2010, he was the Executive Committee chair for CAAM while actively managing a diverse set of global fixed income portfolios. He was in charge of the South East Asia, United Kingdom and Australia operations of the company. Bruno Crastes is also one of the founding partners of H2O Asset Management and currently sits as its CEO.
Bruno graduated from the Institut Superieur de Formation des Actuaries with a BA in Mathematics granted by the University of Lyon.
Vincent Chailley, CIO
In 1995, Vincent Chailley began his career in the CPR Capital Markets R&D team. A year later, he joined CAAM as an analyst in the Strategy team, later becoming an investment manager in the company’s Asset Allocation department. In 1998, he moved to the Global Fixed Income department as an investment manager. For 8 years (2002-2010), he was the head of the Absolute Performance and Global Fixed Income teams of CAAM London.
Vincent Chailley is also one of the founding partners of H2O Asset Management. He is known to be the brains behind the CAAM’s VaR funds, or the “Global Absolute Return Product Range”, with funds totaling to €42bln AuM by 2006. He personally oversaw these funds until the time he left CAAM in 2010.
Chailley holds postgraduate degrees in Mathematical Modeling and in Economics, both from the ENSAE. He also holds a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from the prestigious University of Paris Dauphine. He is also an esteemed member of the French Actuaries Institute.
Marc Maudhuit, Client Portfolio Manager
Marc Maudhuit has more than two decades of asset management experience under his belt. He was the head of the CAAM London’s Product Specialist Team for the Global Fixed Income Department. Before this, he we in charge of the Indosuez Asset Management marketing team for fixed income products, running the marketing support arm of the company.
Marc Maudhit graduated from the ESCP Europe Business School and also holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Washington’s Georgetown University.
Jean-Noel Alba, Deputy CEO
Jean-Noel Alba is responsible for the day-to-day operations in H2O Asset Management. He was the Deputy COO and CEO of CAAM London. He started his career in 1983 as a Banque Worms commercial banking sales officer, after which he became the Deputy Head of the bank’s Capital Corporation New York branch. He eventually moved to Elf Aquatine and was appointed the CEO of Elf Finance and Sofax.
Jean-Noel Alba is an IEP Paris graduate.
Julie Mulcahy – COO
Julie Mulcahy is a human resources, administration and finance specialist. She previously worked in CAAM, Credit Lyonnais UK and Calyon. Julie Mulcahy is currently the human resource specialist of H2O AM.
Loic Cadiou – Senior Fund Manager and Partner
Loic Cadiou was a senior researcher on international economics for a Macroeconomic Modeling think tank before he joined H2O Asset Management in 2010. He was appointed as an investment manager for global bonds, emerging debts and absolute return portfolios.
Loic Cadiou holds a Master’s Degree in Economic Policy from the Paris Graduate School of Social Sciences, and a Postgraduate degree in Economics an Statistics from the Paris Graduate School of Economics Statistics and Finance.
Jérémy Touboul – Investment Manager
Before becoming an investment manager, Jérémy Touboul’s specialization was in trading and chart analysis when he worked in CAAM as a derivatives trader. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Nice, and a Master’s Degree in Finance from the Concordia University in Montreal.
Gonzague Legoff – Specialist in Portfolio Management
Gonzague Legoff joined H2O Asset Management in November 2010 as a partner. He was previously the portfolio manager for International Equity Funds at CAAM. He graduated from ‘Ecolesupérieured’électricité’(SUPELEC).
Jean-Baptiste Roux – Investment Manager
Jean-Baptiste Roux is a volatility management and trading specialist. He was the manager of global aggregate portfolios in CAAM and traded on currency markets in the Global Fixed Income Department.
Roux holds a Life Sciences and Engineering Master’s Degree from the INAPG, and holds a Biochemistry Master’s Degree from the University of Paris VI.
Julio Obeso – Credit Analyst
In 1999, Julio Obeso started his career with the Charles Schwab and Co. Latin American and Caribbean region team. He joined New York Life Insurance Company in 2005 as a leadership rotational program associate, then he became an investment analyst at MacKay Shields LLC.
Julio Obeso holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from UC Berkeley and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.