36 Acquisition International - March 2017 Being named Most Outstanding Global Macro Research & Advisory Investment Firm is no mean feat. Michael Petley tells us more about The ECU Group and what makes it so successful. ounded in 1988, The ECU Group plc (“ECU”) is one of the UK’s leading global macro advisory and currency management firms. We are proud to have been named “Most Outstanding Global Macro Research & Advisory Investment Firm.” This accolade is testament to our long term performance and the calibre, dedication and professionalism of our Global Macro Advisory Team and their supporting staff. ECU’s Global Macro Research & Advisory Team is chaired by Michael Petley and includes Stephen Jen and Fatih Yilmaz (Global Macro & Currency Strategy Investment Advisers), Neil Staines (ECU’s Head of Trading), Professor Charles Goodhart, CBE, (Economic & Central Bank Policy Adviser) George Magnus (Senior Economic Adviser), Neil MacKinnon (Global Macro Strategy Adviser), Kit Juckes (Senior FX & Fixed Income Adviser), Robin Griffiths (Chief Technical Strategist) and Simon Hunt (Commodity Adviser). For 28 years, ECU’s commitment to deliver superior investment performance, quality research and analysis and sound investment advice has enabled the company to navigate clients through many differing economic cycles, both positive and negative, providing them with continuity and reassurance in an ever changing investment world. What sets ECU apart is the importance we place on managing currency debt. We believe currency assets and liabilities have equal significance in a balance sheet and should be given equal attention. From a currency risk management perspective, ECU has outperformed its benchmarks by an average of 3% per annum since inception in 1988. In absolute terms, ECU has generated solid risk adjusted returns and turned liabilities into assets, simply by utilising major trends in the currency markets as a means of dissolving debt and saving interest. ECU’s Global Macro Research & Advisory team has made a number of major calls over the past three decades, including, in 1992, sterling’s withdrawal from the ERM, in 2000 the bursting of the ‘dotcom’ bubble and predicting that Nasdaq would Company: The ECU Group PLC Name: Michael Petley - Chief Investment Officer Nick Bolton - Head of Institutional Services Jessica Scott - Head of Global Macro Research & Advisory Services Email:
[email protected] Web: www.ecugroup.com Address: 100 Brompton Road, London SW3 1ER Phone: +44 (0)20 7399 4600 Calibre, Dedication and Professionalism F 1703AI97 halve in value, in 2007 the US housing decline and Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis to prompt a US recession and banking crisis, in 2008 the precipitous price declines in global equities and commodities (including a 25% fall in gold prices), in 2013 a 12% slump in EURGBP within two years and, not least prior to the referendum in 2016 the UK vote to leave the EU and the ensuing and precipitous drop in GBP, as well as the likelihood of a Trump victory. Do we always get it right? No, of course not, but we do have a long track record of getting the big picture right significantly more often than not and of diligently, and successfully, mitigating the majority of the downside risk when markets move against us. In today’s economic environment the need for a professional, all-encompassing investment strategy is more prevalent than ever. Our global macro “big picture” investment philosophy, methodology and process are central to our ability to provide all our clients with a structurally sound and well balanced global investment roadmap in order to optimise investment returns on a fully risk and currency adjusted basis. Our entire investment approach is based upon an ever adjusting balance of key considerations, in line with the changing financial and economic landscape. It is with these building blocks that we have evolved from focussing purely on currency risk management mandates to becoming a multi-faceted research and advisory firm, creating modern investment solutions to suit prevailing market challenges. Whilst we draw on a full range of investment principles and methodologies, we maintain, as distinct from many, an overriding discretionary control over our global macro and currency management programmes. We believe that the progressive, hands on engagement of our investment process by high calibre and fully accountable investment professionals, subject to appropriate risk management protocols, is preferable to a number of rigid or systematic processes which have become increasingly susceptible to swift over-replication and market exploitation. On balance, the increasing potential for major unforeseen events in the world today points us to a preference for knowledge and experience, underpinned by a deep understanding of markets, over automation. At heart, we are very much a “people business” driven by a collective will to perform, something which is reflected in whom we deal with and the systems we deploy. “Bottom Line: We believe that we now have one of the clearest and most significant macroeconomic movements in the making.”