Robeco appoints three investment professionals to its Trends & Thematic team
Rotterdam, 4 February 2020 – Robeco announced the appointment of several new members to its Trends & Thematic team. Michiel van Voorst and Koos Burema will join the team on 1 March 2020, and the team will be further strengthened by a trend analyst, Sam Brasser, in May. Robeco is also in the process of further expanding its research resources in the team.
Mr. van Voorst and Mr. Burema will be responsible for Robeco Global FinTech Equities and Robeco New World Financial Equities as co-portfolio managers, together with Patrick Lemmens who will remain lead portfolio manager. Mr. van Voorst has 20 years of investment experience, and re-joins Robeco from Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) in Hong Kong where he was CIO Asian Equities. Prior to UBP, Mr. van Voorst spent 12 years at Robeco in several investment positions, including senior portfolio manager of Rolinco, a Robeco trend strategy, and Robeco Asian Stars Equities. Mr. van Voorst is a board member of a Hong Kong-based fintech startup offering regulated software services for independent financial advisors globally. Mr. Burema has 12 years of investment experience and is transferring from Robeco’s Global Emerging Markets team, where he was an analyst covering South Korea as well as technology in Taiwan and Mainland China, with a strong focus on sustainable investing.
Mr. van Voorst and Mr. Burema have a strong background in emerging markets, technology and sustainable investment opportunities, areas where Robeco sees significant growth potential for its trend strategies. Sam Brasser will join as trend analyst in May, after getting his Master’s degree in Financial Economics at Rotterdam’s Erasmus University. During his studies, Mr. Brasser was an equity analyst trainee at Robeco. In his capacity as trend analyst at Robeco, Mr. Brasser will focus broadly on megatrends and how to translate these into the different trend strategies.
Mark van der Kroft, Head of Trends and Thematic Investing: “It’s exciting to have Michiel back; a testament to Robeco’s dedication, ambition and commitment to the Trend & Thematic capability. With Koos, we also welcome an experienced emerging market specialist to the team who brings over a decade of experience in sustainable investing and emerging markets. That we’re also able to attract young talent like Sam on top of that makes me confident that everything has come together to achieve our clients’ financial and sustainability goals by providing superior investment returns and solutions.”
Robeco and RobecoSAM’s Trends & Thematic Investment team consists of over 20 investment professionals, based in Rotterdam and Zurich. The Trends & Thematic investment capability has seen strong growth, with assets more than doubling over the last three years and over EUR 11 billion in assets under management.