Axa IM hires from Goldman to start liquid absolute-return team

Axa Investment Managers has re-hired Pierre-Emmanuel Juillard as managing director to run a team in Hong Kong focusing on liquid absolute-return strategies.

Reporting to Andrea Rossi, chief executive of Axa IM, Juillard will put together an initial team of around 10 and launch the new activity in the second half of this year, subject to regulatory approval.

Juillard joined the French fund house this week from Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, where he was a partner and Asia-Pacific head of structuring in the securities division. Prior to this, he was head of structured finance at Axa IM, having joined the company in 1999 as head of financial engineering and asset-and-liability management studies.

A spokeswoman said not many details were available, but that the new team would be complementary to the firm’s existing liquid alternatives offering, including its multi-asset client solutions team.

The liquid absolute-return strategies will exploit a range of different sources of return, she added. “The exact strategies that will be offered to clients are still a work in progress at this stage and we will be able to share further details in due course.”

Liquid alternatives – alternative funds sold in wrappers such as Ucits structures, complying with certain liquidity requirements – have seen swift growth in recent years, as have absolute-return strategies, amid volatile, uncertain markets.

However, concerns have been raised about putting relatively complex and/or potentially illiquid investment strategies and putting them in publicly available wrappers, as reported.