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Private equity funds managed by Baird Capital invest in bfinance
bfinance is pleased to announce that private equity funds managed by Baird Capital have invested in the company.
Current bfinance CEO David Vafai will continue to lead the consultancy in this next, exciting phase of its growth. He will be joined on the board by Andrew Ferguson, managing director at Baird Capital, and CFO Mark Brownlie, as directors. Also joining the board as chairman is highly experienced financial and investor relations professional Tim Trotter, who founded public relations group Ludgate, co-founded Citywire, the information service for the global fund management industry and is a non-executive chairman at a number of financial services and asset management related blue-chip companies.
The collective expertise and experience of the new board will provide support for bfinance’s further growth, both in the UK and internationally. The consultancy will also benefit from Baird’s resources and specialist track record in supporting the expansion of high-growth businesses, which will help open new networks and markets and enhance bfinance’s ability to attract and retain top industry talent in its core research teams and across its services.
Internationally, bfinance plans to build on its track record in a number of core European markets and on early successes in the US and Australia to further expand its global reach. bfinance has advised over 300 of the world’s largest and most sophisticated institutional investors, including blue-chip private and public pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowment, foundations and family offices from over 25 countries world-wide.
bfinance is recognised as providing award-winning investment advisory solutions to institutional investors globally and was awarded Investment Consultant of the Year at the 2015 and 2013 CIO European Innovation Awards, and Best Investment Consultant in both 2014 and 2013 at the Global Investors Investment Excellence Awards. It specialises in investment implementation, spanning a range of services from investment strategy design, to manager selection, portfolio risk solutions and investment monitoring
The deal with Baird follows a strong period of successes for bfinance. Recent high-profile mandates for bfinance include advising on a USD 1bn alternative beta strategy programme for a U.S. corporate pension plan, a USD 1.2bn private equity search for Swedish State pension fund AP7, and multiple searches across asset classes on behalf of Australian superannuation funds.
As the landscape of asset classes continues to evolve and become more complex, with institutions turning to emerging and more exotic asset classes in the search for yield, bfinance will play a significant role in helping to reshape allocations and protect portfolios in volatile markets.
David Vafai, CEO of bfinance, commented:
“This is a very exciting deal for our business and Baird Capital’s experience and resources will be invaluable as we seek to further enhance our services and global reach. Baird’s deep understanding of the financial services industry and its global network will be valuable as we look to drive our growth both domestically and abroad. Our improved capabilities will also help us better serve our institutional clients who now, more than ever, need excellent advice to help them in their search for yield and to protect their portfolios in today’s highly volatile markets.
We are building bfinance’s next phase of growth on very strong foundations, with our client base of blue-chip institutions and clearly differentiated investment manager selection services winning an increasing number of adherents among institutions and I look forward to working closely with the Baird team to implement our ambitious growth plans over the next few years.”