The changing name of a pioneering Suisse Romande hedge fund specialist underscores the expansion and diversification of its business.
The Geneva-based independent asset manager Notz Stucki is renaming itself NS Partners, according to a media release issued on Tuesday, highlighting the changes it has undergone over the past few years.
The company, established in 1964, was originally focused on the private banking and hedge funds businesses, working closely with such legendary investment pioneers as George Soros, Julian Robertson and Paul Tudor Jones II.
Notz Stucki was integral in helping Geneva become an international center for hedge funds, although it was also affected by the Bernard Madoff financial fraud. That prompted the company to dramatically expand its risk management capabilities after the scandal's outbreak in 2008, as finews.ch (in German only) previously reported.
Accelerated Zurich Expansion
The two co-founders are no longer active. Beat Notz died in 2007 and Christian Stucki retired in 2017. Since then, a six member strong executive committee including Beat Notz's son, Grégoire Notz, has been running the company.
The company's new management has been diversifying its activities over the past few years. It built up an asset management unit focused on alternative investments. From Luxembourg, it provides funds services through a specialized company while also accelerating an expansion of activities in Zurich, particularly after Damiano Paternó Castello left the executive committee in order to head the business in the city, as finews.ch reported (German only).
Since June 2020, he has been helped by Pascal Scherer, an experienced investment expert and specialist, who is directly responsible for daily business affairs, as finews.ch (in German only) previously reported.
Younger Clientele
Notz Stucki currently employs 110 people in seven locations, with 10 of them working in Zurich. Further hires are expected to follow in the next few months.
«NS are the initials of our two founders, Beat Notz and Christian Stucki, and we have already used the same letters to name funds and in some of our projects,» Frédéric de Poix, a member of the executive committee, told finews.com.
The new name should reflect the more youthful client base that the client has managed to build in the past few years, as de Poix explained, with the average age of clients now standing at 63. In total, Notz Stucki manages about 11 billion Swiss francs (just under $12 billion), which makes the company one of the largest independent asset managers in Switzerland.
Playing the Role as a Consolidator
In parallel to its expansion in Zurich, the company also wants to play a role in the further consolidation of independent asset managers in Switzerland. A first step in that direction was taken with 2019's acquisition of Geneva's alternative investment manager JAM Research.
The company will continue on the same path by taking over other companies and hiring external teams of specialists, according to de Poix.
