a leading independent investment consultancy, today announces the appointment of prominent former LGPS investor Trevor Castledine as Senior Director, Private Markets. Joining the private markets team at bfinance’s London office, Castledine brings over twenty five years’ experience in financial services, pensions and investments.

Castledine was formerly Deputy CIO and Private Credit Investment Director at LPP (Local Pensions Partnership), and prior to that was Deputy CIO at Lancashire County Pension Fund. He has won multiple awards and commendations for his work including LAPF Investments Awards “Investment Strategy of the Year” 2015, Professional Pensions Awards “Best Use of Alternatives” 2015, Institutional Investor Peer-to-Peer Awards “Best Use of Private Debt” (2016). Trevor holds a MA in Management Studies & Computer Science from Queens’ College, Cambridge.

Castledine will report to Peter Hobbs, Managing Director & Head of Private Markets. The appointment marks the next phase in the development of bfinance’s rapidly growing Private Markets business, which is now responsible for over 30% of all project work executed by the global specialist investment consultancy. bfinance’s most recent quarterly market intelligence report found that new manager searches in private markets definitively outstripped that of other asset classes, making up 39% of new mandates compared with public markets, fixed income and diversifying strategies, which accounted for 26%, 19% and 16% respectively.

The firm’s Private Markets team now includes five directors, up from two in January 2018 – Hobbs, Castledine, Anish Butani (Infrastructure), Sweta Chattopadhyay (Private Equity) and Thibault Sandret (Private Credit), working alongside a team of research Associates and Analysts. Sandret, who joined bfinance in April 2019 following roles at Lloyds and BNP Paribas, was promoted to Director in December 2019.

Peter Hobbs, Managing Director & Head of Private Markets said: “We are delighted to have Trevor join the team, bringing extensive experience in private markets including private credit, private equity and real estate, as well as his deep understanding of the needs of pension funds thanks to his LGPS background. Many of bfinance’s senior researchers come, like Trevor, from practitioner roles rather than career consulting backgrounds and we believe that this provides deeper insight for our clients, particularly in areas such as manager selection and due diligence.”

Trevor Castledine, Senior Director, Private Markets said:  “I’m very excited to be able to join bfinance, having used the firm as an advisor during my time in LGPS – they stood head and shoulders above the rest, with a genuine focus on the specific needs of each client. I look forward to being able to help pension schemes and other investors find the right investment solutions to meet their needs, hopefully to the benefit of the end beneficiaries that we all should ultimately serve.”

Philip’s appointment marks a significant step in the development of the North American divisions of the London-headquartered consultancy. He will work closely with Senior Director Les Marton and the team to so support major institutional investors in Canada including public and private pension funds, insurers, family offices, foundations and endowments.

Prior to joining bfinance, Philip was Director at Pavilion Alternatives Group where he led the manager research and due diligence function across private markets with a focus on real assets and private debt. In this role he worked closely with investors across Canada and the US. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Finance from Concordia University and a Certificate of Treasury Finance from McGill University and was awarded the CFA charter in 2007 and FRM designation in 2004.

This appointment comes at a time of rapid growth for bfinance. Founded in 1999, the firm has opened two new offices in North America within the last two years – Toronto (2017) and Chicago (2017), making a total of three offices in North American (including Montréal) and eight globally, supporting more than 300 clients across 34 countries across both traditional and alternative asset classes. The volume of asset management mandates conducted by the firm increased by more than 30% between 2017 and 2018, while the period has also seen the development of new services in areas such as Risk Analytics and Fee Benchmarking. The firm’s growth reflects increasing demand for specialist advisory support with investment implementation as portfolios have become more complex; it has also been influenced by escalating concerns about conflicts of interest within the investment consulting industry.

Philip Coté, commenting on his appointment, said: “I am excited to be joining the bfinance team in Canada. I have been impressed by the strength of the team and the expertise of its professionals and believe that bfinance is uniquely positioned to continue to build on its successes.”

Les Marton, Senior Director, said: “We are delighted that Philip, with his wealth of experience, is joining our team to support Canadian investors. We are seeing more demand than ever for investment implementation advice, particularly around de-risking portfolios and diversification into more complex asset classes. Delivering on investment objectives in a cost-effective way continues to be top of mind for Canadian and North American institutions.”