In a surprising move, RobecoSAM's CEO decided to leave, finews.ch has learned. The departure is driven by an organizational reshuffle at senior management level.
Sustainability specialist RobecoSAM said Friday it is undergoing a reorganization of its management as it seeks to intensify its relations with the Robeco group, based in Rotterdam. RobecoSAM will henceforth come under the «supervision» of Robeco.
The reorganization prompted Aris Prepoudis, the company's chief executive officer, to announce his departure. He had been with RobecoSAM since early 2017 only.
Depending on approval from the supervisory authority, RobecoSAM will in future be led by co-CEO’s Marius Dorfmeister (pictured above), and currently head of global clients and marketing, and Daniel Wild (pictured below) now head of sustainability investing research and development. Both are presently on the management board.
To ensure optimum cooperation between the two companies, Wild will also act as consultant on Robeco’s executive committee. In addition to that, a cross-border team in Zurich and Rotterdam will be formed for «trends & thematic investment» with managed assets of 7 billion euros, it said.
Further Organizational Changes
If approved by Finma, David Hrdina (pictured left), currently RobecoSAM’s head of finance, will take over as head of corporate services and thus join the senior management team, the asset manager told finews.com.
The new leadership structure means that Rainer Baumann, now investment management chief, will leave the new management team, but retain his function at RobecoSAM. Thus the management team will be trimmed to three members from four.
Licensed Asset Manager
Mark van der Kroft will lead the new team. He was at NN Investment Partners since March last year, and spent 16 years at Robeco in various functions prior to that. RobecoSAM will remain a fully licensed asset manager, based in Zurich.
