Asset management group Polar Capital has received authorisation from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) to open an office in Zurich.
The office will be the base for its sustainable thematic equity team, led by Thiemo Lang. The team joined Polar Capital in September 2021 and manages the Polar Capital Smart Energy Fund and Polar Capital Smart Mobility Fund, both of which are global equity portfolios investing in companies aiming to address sustainability challenges in the energy and transportation sectors, respectively.
Iain Evans, global head of distribution at Polar Capital, said: “We continue to broaden and deepen our presence and support in continental Europe and the Nordic region. Switzerland has always been and remains a core market for the firm and so opening an office there was a natural step for us. It is the ideal base for our sustainable thematic equity team and further enhances our presence in continental Europe.”
Lang, senior portfolio manager at Polar Capital, said: “It is very exciting to have opened an office in Zurich. It is the perfect base for us as a team, particularly given our client relationships in Switzerland and across Europe.
“Now more than ever is it important to increase investment into technological energy solutions and services that will help reduce the world’s carbon emissions, whilst improving energy security and driving down the costs of energy. With the global shift to a sustainable energy future set to gather more pace in the coming decades, this creates long-term opportunities for investors, and we look forward to tapping into this.”
This comes months after Polar Capital invested in digital wealth manager Moneybox, which bagged a total of £35m ($43.3m, €40m) in a Series D funding round in April 2022.
