Neuberger Berman, a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager, today welcomed seven global equity investment professionals from NN Investment Partners where they managed over $10 billion in assets while notching an impressive investment track record. Three senior portfolio managers and four research analysts join the firm’s office in The Hague.
“Enhancing our global investment capabilities has consistently been one of the firm’s top strategic initiatives. Over the last seven-plus years, we have added over 230 investment professionals, including teams managing emerging market debt, European fixed income, real estate private equity, Japanese small-mid caps, China A shares and more. We are delighted these well-regarded global equity investors have chosen Neuberger Berman and I am confident that they will enhance our culture of fundamental investing and partnering with clients.”
George Walker, CEO, Neuberger Berman
Joining Neuberger Berman is Hendrik-Jan Boer, who has 30 years of experience and has spent the last 16 years as the lead portfolio manager of NN Investment Partner’s global and European sustainable equity strategies. Along with Mr. Boer, portfolio managers Alex Zuiderwijk and Jeroen Brand, both of whom average 20 years of experience, join. The four investment analysts are Philip Chau, Alex Kushev, Camiel Mulders and Mark van der Geest. The group has been early practitioners of ESG investing with deep expertise incorporating ESG risk factors into their investment approach.
Our new global equity team enables us to offer a top performing investment capability with a strong ESG and Sustainable focus.”
Joseph Amato, President and Chief Investment Officer, Equities at Neuberger Berman
Having worked together for many years, the global equity team seeks to invest in high quality companies with resilient business models capable of maintaining high returns on invested capital and sustainable growth. The team conducts deep, bottom-up research with an emphasis on value chain economics and long-term trends and focuses its well established ESG factor assessment on materiality, momentum and engagement. The result is expected to be a concentrated global portfolio of 40-50 high conviction ideas with value chain diversification to limit downside risk.
The new global equity professionals join more than 650 investment professionals at Neuberger Berman, including 100 based in Europe. The firm manages $374 billion in client assets, including $101 billion in equity assets (all as of September 30, 2020).
“Neuberger Berman’s sole focus on investment management, alignment with clients, independence and stability were important factors in our decision to join this global firm.”
Hendrik-Jan Boer, Lead Portfolio Manager at Neuberger Berman
The new global equity capabilities reinforce Neuberger Berman’s commitment to ESG investing and to be an industry leader. In October 2020, the firm was awarded top scores (straight A+) in the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) assessment report for the second consecutive year, and was named a 2020 PRI Leader, a designation awarded to fewer than 1% of investment managers. Through proprietary ESG ratings, managers have evaluated nearly 900 credit ratings and 2,200 equity ratings. Currently, 75% of firm assets are managed with consistent and demonstrable ESG integration.
