Hedge Fund Awards 2016

Hedge Fund Awards 2016 43 ~ Best European Market-Neutral Manager 2016 & Best European Long/Short Equity Fund: Allianz Discovery Europe Strategy Allianz Global Investors is an asset manager owned by Allianz SE, a global insurance group which is a market leader in property, casualty and credit insurance and one of the world’s foremost asset managers and life insurers. We got in touch with Harald Sporleder, European Equity Fund Manager at Allianz, who gave us his insight behind the success- ful performance of his pan-European equity market-neutral fund. Risk management is at the heart of Allianz’s investment management philosophy and we are always commit- ted to delivering satisfaction for clients. Our client base is quite substantial, and we manage EUR 446 billion in assets for both retail and institutional clients worldwide. Our four pillars of equities, fixed income, multi-asset and alternatives allow us to provide solutions for clients across the full spectrum of asset management activity. Furthermore, our client centric approach means that we can develop a deep understanding of their needs in order to provide the strategies and customised solutions that deliver innovative and intelligent ways to achieve their objectives. As for my team, I manage a pan-European equity market-neutral fund. As such, we aim to generate returns for investors regardless of overall equity market direction and within tightly managed risk constraints – particu- larly low net exposure and minimal market beta. The combination of AllianzGI’s broad research capabilities, our blend of fundamental, thematic and restructuring trades, continuous re-assessment of our investment theses and a strong risk management framework allows us to generate strong performance on behalf of our clients. Our investment strategy is based upon a marriage of fundamental company analysis and macro/thematic research. Our proprietary fundamental research identifies companies with upside or downside potential that is not fully reflected in the current price and our macroeconomic and thematic inputs are employed to com- plement the bottom-up idea generation and the portfolio construction process, especially when deciding the portfolio’s tactical market exposure and the overall quality bias. In order to ensure that we remain at the cutting edge of our industry, we work continuously to review our investment strategies and product offering against the market, regulatory environment and client demand. We are able to offer a number of our strategies in a variety of vehicles to meet specific clients’ needs and work to maintain and improve our standards of client care, coverage and support. Looking towards 2016 and beyond, we are optimistic that we will continue to deliver and exceed the expec- tations of our clients. We are confident that, despite the recent and ongoing difficulties presented by capital markets, changes to the global regulatory framework and the challenging macro-economic environment, we remain able to manage our alternatives business and the Allianz Discovery Europe Strategy in line with our clients’ expectations and our internal ambitions for both asset growth and risk adjusted performance. More specifically, we are incubating a number of alternative investment strategies (including within our alter- native equity business) – and expect to make some of these available to clients during the course of 2016. Watch this space! Company: Allianz Global Investors GmbH Name: Harald Sporleder Investment Style Leader Hedge Fund Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.allianzgi.com Address: Bockenheimer Landstraße 42-44, 60323 Frankfurt/Main, Germany