Pzena bolsters local team

Pzena Investment Management has recruited a former BNP Paribas sales executive to help expand its Australian operation.

John Jardim has been hired as director of business development and client services, reporting to principal David Taylor.

Before joining the global equity boutique, Jardim spent ten years at BNP Paribas Asset Management, most recently as head of institutional distribution.

Before that, he did a ten-year stint at BlackRock Asset Management in institutional and wholesale sales.

Previous roles with BlackRock included Southern region account manager for iShares, state manager for Western Australia and South Australia, and business development manager.

Earlier, he worked in the UK with Goldman Sachs in a prime brokerage role and with Citibank in an equity operations role.

"There is a heightened interest in our investment proposition following an upturn in the value cycle after a long period of drought for this style of investment and at a time when, despite some recent narrowing, investment spreads between value and growth stocks remain at unprecedentedly wide levels," said Taylor.

"The firm is doing a lot more business in the wholesale and self-managed funds space, and we can see increased interest in value from institutional clients."

Firm founder and chief executive Richard Pzena said the Australian and New Zealand savings markets remain attractive for their sophistication and scale.

"Already, we have established a strong position in these markets, and we are excited to have John Jardim joining us to help lead the next phase of our journey here," he said.

In a LinkedIn post, Jardim said the opportunities in global value stocks today are very different from ten years ago.

"The opportunity to join Pzena at this time to help continue to build their presence in Australia and New Zealand was too good to pass up," he added.

Pzena currently manages around US$50 billion in equities, including more than A$5 billion for clients in Australia and New Zealand.