Press release - 1H 2018

Over the coming years, Fisch Asset Management seeks to continue expanding its business activities and to tap into new markets internationally. The next stage of growth will involve major investments in research and portfolio management capabilities, as well as in new technologies. This planned expansion builds upon the company’s long-term positive business performance, which has continued throughout the first half of 2018. The majority of Fisch’s investment strategies beat their benchmarks, generating added value for investors with a long-term perspective. Client assets under management increased slightly to around CHF 10.8 billion (EUR 9.3 billion), in what was a challenging environment for all asset classes.

Recognised at home and abroad for its expertise, in particular in convertible and corporate bonds and multi asset/absolute return solutions, Fisch Asset Management has steadily expanded its business activities over the years. At present, the focused, active asset manager primarily operates in Switzerland and Germany. In the next phase of expansion, Co-CEOs Philipp Good and Juerg Sturzenegger, who have been running Fisch since the start of 2017, seek to tap into additional core markets and further internationalise the business. As such, substantial investments are being made in research and portfolio management capabilities. The current team of experts will be expanded by hiring five additional international specialists, bringing the total number to over 30 members. New hires were also made in Risk Management, Legal & Compliance, Operations and Product Management in the first half of the year. At the end of June, Fisch had a total of 88 employees.

In addition to the ongoing recruitment efforts, there are plans to upgrade the IT infrastructure and application landscape. As part of this, Fisch aims to outsource current in-house technologies extensively in order to optimise the client service offering. As CEO Juerg Sturzenegger explains, “Our investments in expertise and infrastructure will allow us to better meet the increasing needs of our clients, while providing a foundation to help us achieve our growth targets. Our new state-of-the-art IT outsourcing solution will allow us to focus on our core asset management activities.”

Assets under management stabilise – investment performance exceeds benchmark
Fisch was confronted with substantially higher volatility and mixed market performance in the first half of the year. Despite this, the majority of its convertible and corporate bond funds were able to beat their benchmarks. As at 30 June, this was true for more than 90% of products over a three-year horizon, and nearly 80% of products over a five-year horizon. In this challenging market environment for convertible and corporate bond funds, Fisch acquired new client monies of over CHF 900 million, although the majority of this was offset by redemptions. In total, client assets rose slightly, to around CHF 10.8 billion (EUR 9.3 billion) in the first half of the year. On business operations in H1, CEO Philipp Good said: “The first half of the year was challenging, given that our investment strategies are based primarily on convertible and corporate bonds. Nevertheless, we still managed to achieve above-average relative performance for our clients – mainly institutional investors – in a generally negative market environment. These newly acquired client assets demonstrate the attractiveness of our strategies for investors with a long-term horizon. Our focus now is to further increase our assets under management in a sustainable manner.”

Expansion of convertibles product range
The FISCH CB Global Dynamic Fund, which was launched on 31 May, pursues a strategy of dynamic allocation across the entire convertible bond universe. In rising markets, it focuses particularly on securities with higher delta. This fund provides an alternative for equity investors looking to take advantage of the potential offered by equities, but at the same time seeking downside protection. “This new fund is a dynamic addition to our historically more conservative product range, combining the most attractive investment opportunities in one portfolio,” says Good.