Andrew Swan

Man GLG, the discretionary investment management engine of Man Group, has launched a high conviction Asia (ex-Japan) equities strategy led by Andrew Swan, Head of Asia Equities (ex-Japan).

The long-only, style agnostic and fundamentally-driven strategy will have an active share of at least 70% and is composed of positions across all market caps, with a preference for mid-cap companies over time. The strategy will typically run sector or country weights to +/-20% versus the MSCI Asia Ex-Japan Index, with the majority of returns achieved through investing in companies the team believes are likely to see positive revisions to their earnings over a period of up to 12-18 months.

In addition to bottom-up analysis, the team will overlay various top-down macro views to determine how the strategy can be tilted to help generate alpha. The investment process will analyse the current macro environment and potential future developments, in order to understand how countries, industries or investment styles (such as growth, value, quality, volatility and momentum) will perform. The strategy will be adapted to ensure the most favourable factors are over-weighted relative to the benchmark.

Andrew joined Man GLG in August 2020 and has more than 25 years’ experience investing in Asian equities. He was previously Head of Asia & Global Emerging Market Fundamental Equities at BlackRock where he managed assets of over USD$25 billion across multiple Asian and emerging markets equity strategies. Andrew is supported by newly appointed Analysts Anand Agarwal, Sally Chan, Andrew Hill and Alethea Leung.

Andrew Swan, Head of Asia (ex-Japan) Equities at Man GLG, said: “Equity markets in the Asia region represent significant opportunities for stock picking and alpha generation. Many of the largest emerging market economies in Asia have undergone significant structural improvements over the last two decades and these, coupled with high levels of GDP growth, have provided fertile ground for companies to prosper. Despite this, they remain relatively under-researched and less efficient than developed markets, so we believe they offer ample opportunities for investors over the economic cycle.”

Teun Johnston, CEO of Man GLG, said: “As a region, Asia is attractive because it’s a market where fundamentals dictate returns, and one with high dispersion at the stock level, making it a rich environment for proven managers like Andrew. Both he and the team of analysts leading the development of this strategy at Man GLG have an established track record in the region and with clients. We believe this is a particularly exciting time to launch this strategy and are pleased to add it to Man GLG’s increasingly diverse range of global equity offerings to clients.”

Hersh Gandhi, Managing Director for Asia Pacific ex-Japan, Man Group said: “I’m really pleased to have Andrew join us in the Sydney office. He is well-known to a number of investors already across Australia, as well as in the Asia-Pacific region more broadly. At Man Group we are always looking for high-calibre portfolio managers to join the platform in order to develop and expand our range of strategies. The addition of Andrew and this high conviction Asia-focused strategy brings our clients another investment option and point of entry to the market.”

As at 30 September 2020, Man GLG had USD$27.3 billion in funds under management.

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With more than 25 years’ experience investing in Asian and emerging markets equities, Andrew will initially be responsible for managing a concentrated Long Only Asia (ex-Japan) equity strategy. He will join the firm in mid-Q3 and will be based in Sydney, Australia. Andrew will report directly to Man GLG CEO Teun Johnston.

Andrew joins Man GLG from BlackRock, where he most recently served as Head of Asia & Global Emerging Market Fundamental Equities, managing significant client assets across multiple Asian and emerging markets equity strategies and helping to develop the firm’s investment platform in Asia. Andrew joined BlackRock in Hong Kong in 2011, before which he spent 17 years at JPMorgan in various Asia Pacific equity portfolio management and research roles. He earned a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Finance from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Teun Johnston, CEO of Man GLG, said: “We are very excited to welcome Andrew to the Man GLG team. We have been looking to expand our Asia offering for a number of years, but have been patient as we want to ensure that whenever we build out strategies in new areas, we do so with individuals we believe to be exceptional Portfolio Managers. Andrew is very experienced and has demonstrated real skill in managing portfolios for his clients over a number of years. We feel that he will be a good fit both within Man GLG and the broader Man Group business.”

Andrew Swan said: “I am keen to return to focusing on investing for clients and Man GLG’s dual focus on autonomy and collaboration, coupled with Man Group’s reputation for having a culture of innovation and an exceptional technology platform, made this role a really compelling opportunity for me. I look forward to working with Teun and the team to develop the new strategy and build out a new team.”

Hersh Gandhi, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, at Man Group, added: “We are delighted to be building our footprint in Australia, which is a strategically important market for the firm. Andrew already has a strong reputation throughout Asia Pacific and we look forward to introducing him to our clients across the whole region.”

As at 31 December 2019, Man GLG had $31.6 billion in funds under management.

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In this newly-created role, William will be responsible for developing Man GLG’s machine learning capabilities, providing the firm’s portfolio managers with tools and techniques through which to support their analysis and decision-making processes. He will also work directly with Man GLG’s teams on the application and interpretation of machine learning techniques in relation to topics such as analysing news and social media, market events and announcements, and the visualisation of complex data.

William will utilise the knowledge and expertise available across Man Group, including working collaboratively with Man AHL’s machine learning team. Man AHL has been actively researching machine learning techniques and applying them within its client trading programmes for several years. Man Group also benefits from its innovative collaboration with the University of Oxford, the Oxford-Man Institute (OMI). Established in 2007, the OMI focuses on cutting-edge research into machine learning techniques and data analytics.

William joins Man GLG from Florin Court Capital, and prior to that worked as Technology Manager for Man AHL from 2011 to 2014. In his role at Man AHL, William acted as Chief Technology Officer for Man Systematic Strategies. Before this, he was an Executive Director at JP Morgan and has previously held roles at firms including Merrill Lynch, GSA and CQS. William holds a PhD in Theoretical Computer Science and an MSc in Computational Statistics and Machine Learning from University College London, where he focused on natural language processing of news article headlines.

Teun Johnston, CEO of Man GLG, said: “We believe that machine learning techniques present an opportunity for discretionary investment managers, providing them with analytical tools to complement, and further enhance, their decision making processes. We are continually seeking to develop our offering for our clients and, as the amount of data available continues to expand, these techniques can supplement existing rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis. William will work closely with Man GLG’s portfolio managers, as well as leveraging Man Group’s existing machine learning expertise, and I am delighted to welcome him to the firm.”

William Ferreira, Head of Machine Learning at Man GLG, said: “I am excited about the opportunity to build Man GLG’s machine learning capabilities, developing tools to support the firm’s portfolio managers as they run high-conviction active portfolios. We see many opportunities to utilise machine learning across the diverse data sets available to the discretionary investment business. Man GLG has a collaborative culture, supported by the sharing of ideas and expertise, and I look forward to working closely alongside the investment teams, supported by Man Group’s existing machine learning capabilities.”

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