about us
h2o am in numbers
years of expertise in
asset management
fund categories :
Absolute Return Unconstrained Benchmark Anchored
open-ended funds
Our mission is to assist investors in achieving their objectives by placing performance and risk over the investment horizon at the heart of their considerations.
WHO we are
Founded in 2010 and with offices in Paris, Monaco, London, Geneva and Singapore, H2O AM is an independent asset management company, mainly specialising in Global Macro strategies.
Based on an investment process developed over more than thirty years and on solid quantitative engineering, the teams implement a discretionary investment process based on a Top-Down and Value approach.
Through relative value strategies in bonds, currencies and equities, H2O AM offers its clients the benefits of diversified alpha with assumed and controlled risk over a defined time horizon.
OUR APPROACH
Our belief is that value diversification by arbitraging market biases offers a robust source of alpha over time. Drawing on an investment process developed over more than thirty years and on solid quantitative engineering, the teams implement discretionary management using a top-down and value approach. Through in-depth macroeconomic analysis, a fine-tuned assessment of capital flows and relative value strategies on bonds, credit, currencies and equities, H2O AM offers its clients the benefits of diversified alpha with an assumed and controlled risk over a given time horizon.
Diversification is targeted not only across assets and strategies, but also by investment horizons. H2O AM’s manager expertise focuses on market equilibria with the aim of controlling risk across the investment horizon of each fund.
H2O AM is guided by a strong corporate culture that emphasises passion, fortitude and performance, with an unwavering commitment to its clients.
what defines us
Our Investment Philosophy is based on
Active management.
Value diversification strategies by arbitraging market biases as a robust source of alpha over time.
Relative value strategies in bonds, currencies & equities.
Long-term allocations and top-down approach.
Our values
Passion
We are passionate about decoding markets to create value within the risk framework defined by our investors.
Fortitude
Resilient, we remain true to our convictions over the defined investment horizons.
Performance
At H2O AM, we accept short-term volatility in the search for long-term performance, and we challenge conventional wisdom.
We embrace our boldness.
Our team
Members of the Global Executive Committee, for all H2O Group entities
Loïc Guilloux
Before joining H2O AM, Loïc Guilloux spent 22 years in the Global Markets industry (FICC and Equities), 16 years at Merrill Lynch International, based in London and Paris, where he ran several activities (Asset/Liability & Investment Solutions for Global Equities in Europe, FICC for Belgium-France-Luxembourg, Complex Interest Rates & Forex Options Sales in EMEA, SVT representative…) and 6 years at Crédit Agricole Indosuez where, at the end of his tenure, he was deputy Head of Fixed Income sales. Previously he served as forward observation officer at 35° Régiment Parachutiste and section head at 6° Bataillon d’Infanterie de Marine (Gabon).
Loïc graduated from Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and holds a DEA de Gestion from La Sorbonne and a Maîtrise d’Economie Appliquée from Paris-Dauphine.
Jean-Christophe Morandeau
He began his career in 1988 as a wealth manager at Paribas Bank.
He then joined Paribas Asset Management as the Head of Legal Department for French UCITS in 1992. In 1999 he joined Credit Agricole Asset Management as the Legal Head of Products & Corporate-France and in 2004 became the Deputy Head of Legal and Fiscal Department.
Jean-Christophe Morandeau joined Natixis Asset Management in 2008 as the General Counsel. He was promoted to the Head of Legal, Monitoring (compliance and internal control) and Risk in November 2014 and became a member of the Executive Committee in February 2015.
Jean-Christophe joined H2O in January 2019 as the Global Head of Legal and Compliance and he was appointed Group General Secretary in 2021
Juliette Pianko
She began her carrier in 2004 within the Middle Office department of Credit Agricole Asset Management (which became Amundi in 2010) in London. She became Head of the Middle office in 2005, managing a team of 10 people and has worked on various operational projects from collateral management to implementation of booking/ clearing systems and on boarding of prime brokers.
Juliette joined H2O Asset Management in May 2011 as treasury manager. She became a Portfolio manager in September 2014, and she was appointed Chief Operating Officer in 2020. She was then appointed Group Chief Risk officer in 2021, relocating to the Paris office. Juliette holds a Master’s degree in Finance from Paris 1 Sorbonne University.
Vincent Chailley
He started his career in 1995 in the Research & Development team of CPR Capital Markets department. In 1996, he joined CAAM, first as an analyst in the Strategy team, then as an investment manager in the Asset Allocation team. In July 1998, he transferred to the global fixed income department as an investment manager.
From 2002 to 2010 he headed the global fixed income and absolute performance team of CAAM (then Amundi) London.
He is a founding partner and Group CIO of H2O. Vincent Chailley created and developed CAAM’s global absolute return product range (the “VaR” funds) from 1999 onwards. He managed these funds personally until he left CAAM/Amundi in April 2010. These funds totalled €42bln AuM as at end 2006. Vincent Chailley is a member of the French Actuaries Institute and holds a postgraduate degree in Economics and Mathematical modelling from ENSAE. He also holds a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from the University of Paris Dauphine.
Stéphane Gaillard
Stéphane Gaillard began his career in 1997 at Crédit Commercial de France in the risk department of the capital market activities, where he implemented the concept of “value at risk” (VaR) on interest rate and foreign exchange derivatives. He then joined the FX options trading team until 2000. Stéphane was also in charge of foreign exchange/interest rate hedging at Alcatel before joining Natixis Paris in 2001, and then leaving for London in 2007, where he headed the commodity derivatives department until 2010. In August 2010, he joined Nomura London, in charge of the exotic options book. He was appointed Managing Director of the emerging markets options book in 2013. Stéphane holds a Masters in Mathematics and a Masters in Financial Markets from the University of Grenoble.
Pascal Dubreuil
Pascal Dubreuil is responsible for the Global Aggregate strategies management. He joined the company in 2015 from Amundi, where he had been managing Global Aggregate funds since 2010. Before this, he was a credit analyst for Amundi in Paris, London and Singapore. He started his career in 1998 as an auditor for Arthur Andersen and for KPMG in 1999. In 2001, he joined Crédit Agricole CIB as a structured finance risk analyst. He holds a master degree in Finance from the University of Paris II.
Thomas Delabre
Thomas Delabre started his career in 2000 as Junior Economist at the French Embassy in India. In 2002, he joined the Economic Research Department of Credit Lyonnais (now Credit Agricole SA) as a Country Risk Analyst covering Latin America. In 2005, he moved to Crédit Agricole AM (now Amundi AM) as a Global Emerging Markets Strategist and joined the London office in 2007. He was then appointed EM Portfolio Manager in at the end of 2009. Thomas joined H2O AM LLP in October 2014 as an Emerging Markets PM. Thomas holds a Master’s Degree in Finance from The American University (Washington DC, 1999) and a Post-Master’s in Economics from Toulouse School of Economics (1998).
Victoire Bruley Des Varannes
Victoire Bruley Des Varannes started her career in 2016 as an economist in the Global Market Research department of Natixis, specializing in the Eurozone, Italy and monetary policy analysis. During her university studies, she also did an internship at the French Union of Petroleum Industries (UFIP) as an energy sector analyst. Victoire graduated from the University of Paris-Dauphine with two masters degrees: a Master’s degree in International Economic Diagnosis and another Master’s degree in Economics and Finance.
Christophe Chappuis
Christophe Chappuis started his career in 2005 at CAAM (now Amundi) in London as a Middle Office Assistant. He was appointed Cash Manager in 2006 and then Portfolio Manager within the Absolute Return team in 2010. In 2013, he joined the New York office to implement the global aggregate strategy for US clients. Christophe joined H2O AM LLP in October 2014 as an Equity PM. He holds a MSc in Finance and Corporate Strategy from Napier University (Edinburgh).
Paul Chetboun
Paul Chetboun joined H2O AM in June 2019 as a Portfolio Manager. Prior to that, he spent nearly seventeen years at BNP Paribas as a European Government Bond Trader, heading up the Peripheral desk. Before joining BNP in 2002, Paul worked as a European Government Bond trader at Salomon Brothers/Citi Group (1996-2002) and Barclays (1993-1996). Paul started his career as a Primary Dealer in French securities at Louis Dreyfus in 1990. Paul holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics and a Post Graduate degree in Mathematics for Finance, Statistics and Econometrics from the University of Paris Dauphine.
Andrew Egan
Andrew Egan started his career with Citigroup in 2012 as an FX Operations Analyst focussed on corporate and investor clients. He joined H2O AM in May 2014 as part of the Middle Office team. In November 2015 he joined the Investment Team as an Assistant Portfolio Manager. Andrew holds a BSc Economics with Finance from Queens University Belfast.
Thomas Goury
Thomas Goury started his career in Equity Finance Trading at BNP Paribas. After graduating from EDHEC Business School, he worked as an Equity Front Office Developer at Societe Generale. He joined H2O Asset Management in January 2018, and focuses on developing quantitative tools with the equity portfolio management team. Thomas holds a Master of Science in Financial Markets and a Master in Management from EDHEC Business School.
Romain Mercier
Romain Mercier is a fund manager focusing on Global Aggregate strategies. He joined the company in 2017 from Amundi, where he had been managing Global Aggregate and Absolute Return portfolios since 2010. He started his career in 2005 as a risk manager in Crédit Agricole AM. He holds a master degree in Finance from Tours University and a master degree in International Business from ISC in Paris. He is a CFA charterholder and has FRM certification from GARP.
Gonzague Real del Sarte
Gonzague Real del Sarte began his career at Pinatton, before joining Fimagest in 1987 as head of the futures market. He then went on to manage Onyx Futures Management and founded and chaired Technical Futures, an international financial markets analysis and advisory firm. Over the past 20 years, Gonzague has held several positions as a global macro strategist and long-only equity and absolute return fund manager. During this time, he also spent five successful years in the City of London as an in-house macro strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort and as a proprietary options trader, before becoming a portfolio manager at a UK based hedge fund.
William Fouques
William Fouques holds a master’s degree in mathematics from EURIA (EURo Institut d'Actuariat) and subsequently obtained a master’s degree in economic and financial engineering from the University of Paris-Dauphine. He began his career as a Junior Risk Officer, and then Junior Portfolio Manager, at H2O Asset Management in October 2023.
Bruno Crastes
He began his career in 1989 as a bond portfolio manager in the fixed income team of Indosuez Asset Management. He was appointed Deputy Head of the team in 1994. Following the merger of Indosuez AM with Segespar (Crédit Agricole Group) into CAAM in 1997, he became Head of Global Fixed Income & Currency management. He was further promoted CIO and Deputy CEO of CAAM London Branch in November 2002, and finally CEO in April 2005.
From 2007 until April 2010, while actively managing global fixed income portfolios, he sat on the Executive Committee of CAAM (then Amundi) in charge of the United Kingdom, South East Asia and Australia.
Bruno is a founding partner of H2O AM Group. Bruno received a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Lyon and graduated from ISFA (Institut Supérieur de Formation des Actuaires).
Babak Abrar
Before joining H2O AM in August 2021 as Group Chief Sales & Marketing officer, Babak Abrar worked for over 13 years at Natixis Investment Managers as an Executive Managing Director. Co-head of the distribution for Western Europe, he was leading a team of over 50 people, covering financial intermediaries, family offices, institutional and private banks in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Monaco and Israel.
Babak has more than eighteen years’ experience in the financial industry. He started his career at J.P. Morgan (Suisse) SA and then worked in the pension fund Business Development division at Lombard Odier. Babak Abrar holds a Master’s degree in Management, with a specialization in Finance, from the HEC Lausanne School of Economics in Switzerland and a Foundation for Business Leadership certificate from IMD.
Matthieu Genessay
Matthieu Genessay started his career with NewAlpha Asset Management, the hedge fund seeding subsidiary of OFI Asset Management in Paris. Within the marketing team, he worked on all alternative strategies before specialising in client servicing. In 2010, he joined Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers, a subsidiary of La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild as a Product Manager and worked on fixed income and multi-management products. In 2011, he joined H2O Asset Management in the Client Portfolio Management team and became partner in 2015. Matthieu Genessay was appointed new spokesman of the investment team in January 2022. He is a graduate of EDHEC Business School.