About Us
History
Following a development capital partnership struck in 2008, the company is now 50% owned by Evercore Partners, a leading US-listed investment banking boutique and investment firm. Our investment methodology suits all types of funds whether charitable endowments, institutional funds,pensions, or family wealth. The current Principals have extensive knowledge of dealing with the particular issues which face charities and have over 50 years aggregate experience in the investment industry.
Our Founders
John Redwood
John Redwood was an investment analyst, manager and Director for Robert Fleming and for NM Rothschild in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then he has been a Pension trustee, a member of the Investment Committee of an Oxford College, the Chairman of an investment company and a non-executive Director of a hedge fund and an Investment Trust. He was an early advocate of tracker funds to cut the costs of equity investment.
He has written extensively on economic and investment subjects, including "Popular Capitalism" (1988, about privatisation and debt swap); "The Global marketplace" (1993, setting out how computers and telecoms innovation would power globalisation); Superpower Struggles (2005, looking at the rise of China); "Freeing Britain to compete" (2007, a study of how to improve competitiveness, as Chairman of a Policy review); and “After the Credit Crunch: no more boom and bust” (2009, an account of the Credit Crunch and the steps needed to improve the UK's competitiveness and speed its recovery). He is currently a Distinguished Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and a lecturer and commentator on economic and investment matters. He holds a doctorate from Oxford University and the IMC Investment Management qualification.
Christopher Aldous
Christopher Aldous has been involved in wealth management since 2001 as a founder and Chief Executive of Absolute Fund Management. He managed a low volatility fund of hedge funds designed for high net worth, family office and charity investors and wrote many articles urging the wider use of hedge funds in portfolio construction.
This followed 20 years in investment banking beginning with Cazenove in 1981. He became a Director of Barclays de Zoete Wedd in 1987 managing large institutional accounts and worked in London, Paris and Sydney before joining UBS as an Executive Director in 1993. In 1998, he joined Robertson Stephens, the US technology investment bank, as a Managing Director where he established and ran their European equity sales and research department. He read business studies and French at De Montfort University, Leicester.
The Late Robert Brown
Robert Brown died in November 2008 after a short illness. He worked in investment management for family wealth, charitable endowments and institutional funds since 1972 with Phillips & Drew, NM Rothschild and UBS. Between 1998 and 2004 he was the Managing Director of Chiswell and subsequently the Chief Executive of Sarasin Chiswell.
He was a regular speaker and writer on investment matters. For ten years he wrote the Chiswell Compendium of Investment for Charities, a work of reference highly regarded for its long-term perspective on investment and for the breadth and depth of its comparative analysis of global asset classes. He was a member of the Charity Finance Directors Group, a member of the Management Committee of the Charity Investors’ Group, a member of the Stock Exchange Speakers Panel and the Visiting Fellow in Charity Investment at the South Bank University Business School. He was a Fellow of the Securities Institute and chaired the City Circle of the Forum for European Philosophy.
