Massimiliano Gnesi
After graduating in Financial Economics from Universita’ Bocconi in Milan in 2000, I went to London to attend a postgraduate course at Imperial College. In 2002, I received an MSc in Applied Mathematics, with a final dissertation on “Application of Cointegration Analysis to Relative Value Trading”.
My career started in 2001, in investment banking, working as a junior trader at the structured products desk of Banca Intesa in London. I was market-making equity-linked bonds listed on MOT.
In 2002, I had my first opportunity to work in Asset Management. I joined Credit Agricole, working as a trader in the absolute return team, led by Bruno Crastes. I was involved in trade execution, repo trading, and relative value in the European curve. After CAAM, I joined Concordia Advisors as a senior trader. Concordia was a London-based Hedge Fund and I was working on the Class-K directional G-10 Rates Fund. I had the chance then to contribute to the development and management of systematic quantitative strategies for developed markets’ interest rates.
From 2007 until 2009, I was a portfolio manager and one of the founding partners of Old Brompton Capital Management. The company was a London-based Hedge Fund, launched by Sunay Yildiz. Sunay was joining from Morgan Stanley, where he headed the euro rates team in the investment banking. Old Brompton was a start-up and was seeded by KBC. Our primary focus was managing fixed-income relative value strategies on developed markets’ rates.
I moved then to Switzerland and covered portfolio management roles in the Asset Management space.
In 2009, I joined Vontobel, to manage the Absolute Return franchise, which reached a peak of over 2bn USD in assets. After Vontobel, in 2014, I took the opportunity to work for Credit Suisse Asset Management. At Credit Suisse, I was the lead portfolio manager of the Credit Suisse(Lux) Absolute Return Bond Fund and head of the Absolute Return Team.
I was also a CSAM fixed income investment committee member helping oversee CHF70bn.
Since 2019, I have been advising family offices and institutional clients on strategic and tactical asset allocation for global fixed-income portfolios.
My core expertise and passion are strategic asset allocation for multi-sector fixed-income portfolios and tactical trading of interest rates and credit derivatives. I also very much enjoy working alongside investment committees, providing macro research inputs, and investment strategies for developed markets’ interest rates, currencies, and macro credit.
Max has spearheaded the launch of the InfectionPoint platform and is currently focused on the technical aspects of website maintenance.
Giorgio Vintani
After graduating in Economics and Trade from Universita’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan in 1995, I went to London to attend a postgraduate course at London Business School, and in 2008 I graduated and received an MSc in Finance. During my course, I produced a paper on emerging markets, titled “BRIC and the Emerging Markets: the dream to 2050”.
My career started in 1996 in Asset Management, working as a Junior Derivatives Trader in the investment department of BNL Gestioni SGR in Milan, led by Enrico Ascari. There I was mostly involved with trading single stocks and index options on Italian and International Equity Markets.
In 1998 I became a junior fund manager in the UK Market, under the guidance and supervision of Massimo Terrizzano. In 1999 I was promoted to Fund Manager and given the responsibility of the US Equities fund Investire America. In 2000 I was again promoted to Head of International Equities, overseeing all equity investments outside Europe and managing directly the US Equity Fund.
In 2000 I moved to DWS Investments in Milan, first as a Fund Manager and then one year later as a Senior Fund Manager, where I was the lead portfolio manager on US Equities for the firm. Over the next 5 years, I managed a range of funds for the firm, including DWS America and DWS New York, which invested in American Equities. In 2005 I was included by Citywire among Europe’s Top 100 Fund Managers (81) for the risk-adjusted performance of those two funds.
After graduating from London Business School in 2008, I had the opportunity to work as a research analyst for Prof. Elroy Dimson (LBS and Cambridge Judge) and Prof. David Chambers (Cambridge Judge) on various projects, including “Hot issue markets over the twentieth century: a study of the IPOs on the LSE 1900-2007”.
In 2010 I returned to Italy, and I worked as a research analyst for Giampaolo Abbondio Associati SIM, where I had the unique opportunity to work with a legendary investor, the late Angelo Abbondio. Together we developed a concentrated global portfolio and produced in-depth studies on the Italian Real Estate Closed Funds. I also produced a Weekly Market Report for clients.
In 2012 I returned to London, and I returned to work as a research analyst for Prof. David Chambers (Cambridge) and Prof. Olivier Accominotti (London School of Economics) on various projects, including “Out of sample evidence on the returns to currency trading”.
In 2016 I joined Canara Capital Partners in London, a global long-short discretionary hedge fund, led by co-founder Arpad Odry. For the first two years, I focused on IPOs both in the US and Worldwide. In 2018 I was promoted to Partner and Portfolio Manager of the Canara Capital Focus Fund, which invested primarily in US Equities and in Equity Capital Markets.
Since December 2009 I have been advising HNWIs and overseeing Total Return Portfolios with a demonstrable track record.
My core expertise and passion is Equity investing in US and Global Markets, with a focus on IPOs and a more recent specialisation in Italian SPACs and Small Caps. Equity Capital Markets have always been and continue to be an area of major focus. I have met many management teams all over the world of a whole range of companies, from very large conglomerates to start-ups. I do enjoy my advisory work with HNWIs and expect that to grow in importance soon; in 1996 I published a book, Managing Savings in Italy. Finally, I also very much enjoy working alongside investment committees, providing macro research inputs and an investment strategy for Developed Markets’ Equities.
On a more personal note, I love travelling and have visited almost 50 countries, and I love being in touch with people from different countries, cultures and backgrounds. In that respect, London is the perfect base for me!
Giorgio serves as Chief Editor and content curator for the publications on the InflectionPoint platform!
