Boutiques Briefing

Portfolio Manager

Sanjeev Lakhani, CFA

Impax Asset Management

Sanjeev is a co-Portfolio Manager of Impax’s Leaders, US Environmental Leaders, Specialists and Climate strategies. He is also responsible for idea generation, fundamental research and thought leadership for Impax’s Thematic strategies with a primary focus on Industrials. Before joining Impax in 2023, Sanjeev was previously an Assistant Portfolio Manager at Highclere International Investors, where he also worked as an Investment Analyst covering Industrials and Utilities. Before that, Sanjeev was an Investment Manager at Janus Henderson Investors, where he was a member of the Global and Sustainable equities team. Sanjeev started his career at PwC where he worked in corporate finance and qualified as a chartered accountant (ACA). Sanjeev holds a BSc in economics from the London School of Economics. He is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the ICAEW.

CIO and lead Portfolio Manager

Paul Adams

Downing

Paul is CIO and a lead portfolio manager for Downing Liquid Alternatives. Paul built a series of successful cash equities and equity derivatives businesses over his 20+ year career in investment banking at Royal Bank of Canada, Nomura, Lehman Brothers and WestLB Panmure. Most recently, at Royal Bank of Canada, Paul was the European Head of Cash Equity and Flow Derivative Sales (part of the Global Equities division). Paul has a broad set of capital markets expertise and has directly covered a mix of institutional clients, corporates, wealth managers, pensions/insurers, and hedge funds. Paul began his career as a Chemical Engineer and then worked for 5 years at Chubb Insurance. He has a Beng (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from Nottingham University and is also a qualified Certified Chartered Accountant.

Co-Portfolio Managers

Ben Beneche and Ramesh Narayanaswamy

Pacific Asset Management

Pacific has partnered with global equity specialist Tourbillon Partners. Tourbillon was co-founded by Ben Beneche and Ramesh Narayanaswamy.

Fund Manager

George Godber

Polar Capital

George joined Polar Capital in April 2017 to manage the Polar Capital UK Value Opportunities Fund with Georgina Hamilton. Prior to this, George managed the CF Miton UK Value Opportunities Fund and the Miton Undervalued Assets Fund at Miton Group. Previously, George co-founded Matterley Asset Management in 2008 and was co-manager of the group’s Undervalued Assets Fund. Before founding Matterley, George was a Director of Equity Sales at Credit Suisse.

Portfolio Manager

Hilde Jenssen

Nordea

Hilde Jenssen is the Head of Fundamental Equities at Nordea Asset Management

Head of Team, Portfolio Manager & Analyst

Drew Cupps

Polen Capital

Drew is Head of Team and Portfolio Manager on Polen Capital’s 5Perspectives Growth Team. He leads portfolio management and investment analysis for the 5Perspectives strategies, which are centered on his proprietary investment framework developed over decades of experience. The team’s name, “5Perspectives,” reflects Drew’s core belief in the importance of diverse perspectives to generate better investment outcomes - a foundational tenet of his approach. Prior to joining Polen Capital in 2025, Drew was a Portfolio Manager at Bosun Asset Management and, before that, at Advisory Research Investment Management. He also founded and managed Cupps Capital Management, and oversaw hedge fund and mutual fund assets at Strong Capital Management. Drew began his career at Driehaus Capital Management in 1992.

Lead Portfolio Manager

Masakazu Takeda

SPARX Group

Masakazu Takeda has over 20 years of portfolio management and financial analysis experience. Since 2006, he has been the lead portfolio manager of the Japan Focus All Cap Strategy. Mr. Takeda joined SPARX in 1999 as a research analyst and became a fund manager in 2004. Proposed Session Name: Beyond the Japan Rally - Finding Alpha in the Next Phase Synopsis: Japanese equities have performed strongly, but the next phase may require a more selective approach. With valuations no longer as cheap and macro risks still present, investors need to look beyond broad Japan beta. This session will examine the structural drivers still supporting Japan — governance reform, rate normalisation and corporate change — and highlight where the SPARX Japan Fund is finding alpha through bottom-up stock selection across AI-related companies, financials and underappreciated long-term compounders.

Editorial Director

Julian Marr

Wealthwise