Established in the US 20 years ago, Pzena has operated in Europe for more than 15 years. On behalf of UK and European clients, the company manages over $3bn (£1.98bn, €2.7bn) in assets, less than a fifth of the company’s total $27bn assets under management.
New management team
To lead its EMEA business, Pzena has installed a new management team in London: Phil Hoffman as head of UK, Middle East & Africa and Ulrik Ahrendt-Jensen as head of Europe.
Prior to joining Pzena, Hoffman worked at Russell Investments in London in a variety of positions; including head of research for UK, Japan and global equities. He was the senior portfolio manager and head of Russell’s global equities multi-manager team, overseeing approximately $30bn in client assets.
Ulrik Ahrendt-Jensen previously worked for Nordea’s funds business, which oversaw in excess of €200bn, and as an executive committee member of Nordea’s outside adviser business.
“This European expansion reflects the natural evolution of over 20 years of value investing experience."
Pzena intends to build on its distinctive deep value investment franchise across key institutional and wealth management channels in the UK, including local government pension schemes, and defined contribution platforms, as well as European wholesale and private banking distribution channels.
Natural evolution
Company founder Richard Pzena said: “This European expansion reflects the natural evolution of over 20 years of value investing experience. We are excited to unveil Pzena’s new London operation as the next stage of our international growth story.”
Hoffman added: “I look forward to enhancing Pzena’s presence in the UK. We have many strong relationships here and a solid client base. Ultimately, we want to be viewed as one of the leading value investment firms globally and having a London base will be crucial in helping us achieve that goal.”
Ahrendt-Jensen said: “Pzena has had clients in the European market for the past 15 years. The establishment of the London office marks our long term commitment to Europe and our UCITS umbrella.
“Our UCITS funds offer investors a distinctive and timely set of investment solutions and we are pleased to be able to bring our long established deep value approach to a wider audience. Pzena’s UCITS platform offers four strategies: an Emerging Markets Value Fund, a Global Expanded Value Fund, a Global Value Fund and a US Large Cap Expanded Value Fund.”
