RobecoSAM and Robeco strengthen ties over Sustainable Investing

RobecoSAM, the investment specialist that has focused exclusively on Sustainable Investing (SI) for over 22 years, today announced a new management model for the company. After an excellent year in 2017 where RobecoSAM was entrusted with significant new client assets and a vast majority of its strategies outperformed their relevant benchmarks, RobecoSAM won a USD 1.4 billion thematic mandate in the first quarter of the current year. The time is now right to build further on these achievements.

The foreseen new management model aims to strengthen ties between RobecoSAM and Robeco in order to fully unlock the potential between the two companies and to maintain their leading position in SI, an area where both companies have been successful since the 1990s and together currently manage over EUR 100 billion in assets.

RobecoSAM will continue to be a fully licensed asset management company, headquartered in Zurich. However, the new management model will result in several developments, many of which are pending regulatory approval:

• RobecoSAM’s Board of Directors (BoD) has decided to introduce a matrix organization with functional oversight from Robeco on RobecoSAM in order to intensify the collaboration between the two organizations and to establish a leaner Executive Committee (ExCo) at RobecoSAM.

• As a result, after successfully refocusing RobecoSAM’s operations and distribution set-up and achieving profitable growth in a short period of time, the RobecoSAM BoD and Aris Prepoudis, currently CEO of RobecoSAM, have decided to part ways.

• Pending regulatory approvals, it is foreseen, that RobecoSAM will be led by Co-CEOs: Marius Dorfmeister, currently Head of Global Clients and Marketing and Member of the ExCo, and Daniel Wild, currently Head of Sustainable Investing Research & Development and Member of the ExCo.

• In connection with the leaner management model, RobecoSAM’s BoD and Rainer Baumann, currently Head of Investment Management and Member of the ExCo at RobecoSAM, have agreed that he will step down from the ExCo but remain Head of Investments at RobecoSAM. This will allow him to focus purely on investments and on enhancing the alignment of RobecoSAM’s and Robeco’s investment processes.

• To further enhance alignment at the ExCo level, Daniel Wild will assume an advisory role to the Robeco ExCo.

• Furthermore, to increase scale and synergies, a multi-site Rotterdam/Zurich team for Trends & Thematic Investment with EUR 7 billion in AuM will be established.

• Mark van der Kroft will head the new Trends & Thematic Investment capability. He comes from NN Investment Partners, which he joined in March 2017. Prior to that, he spent 16 years at Robeco in various roles, including CIO of Equity Investments.
  

Gilbert Van Hassel, Member of the RobecoSAM BoD, and CEO of Robeco: “Looking ahead, I am convinced that the closer collaboration between Robeco and RobecoSAM will create new added value for our clients and be beneficial for both companies. On behalf of the RobecoSAM BoD, I would like to thank Aris Prepoudis for his service and his notable achievements. We mutually agreed that under the new management model, a leaner ExCo at RobecoSAM is best for the firm. We wish him all the very best in his future personal and professional endeavors.”

Aris Prepoudis, outgoing CEO of RobecoSAM: “My entrepreneurial mindset and my passion for Sustainable Investing were instrumental in achieving profitable growth in a short period of time. It was intense but also very rewarding on many levels. I want to thank everyone at RobecoSAM for their dedication and passion to SI, and for having given me the opportunity to lead such an inspiring firm.”

By further strengthening the collaboration between Robeco and RobecoSAM, introducing new functional reporting lines, and investing in people and technology, the shareholder and the boards of both firms are confident to have taken the right steps to maintain and intensify RobecoSAM’s and Robeco’s leading positions in SI with only one ultimate goal in mind: to deliver cutting edge and impactful SI solutions to their clients.