Gam has hired two analysts to its disruptive growth team as Amanda Lyons, its sole analyst, departs.
Lyons (pictured) had worked as an analyst across Gam’s long-only strategy and long/short strategy in its global technology team for nearly 10 years before being promoted to investment manager on Gam’s $772m (£553m) Disruptive Growth fund.
Gam has said Lyons is leaving to pursue another opportunity.
Lyons’ colleagues, investment director Mark Hawtin and investment manager David Goodman, will remain in situ.
Hawtin said: “We would like to wish Amanda well in her new endeavour. She has been a devoted and talented member of the team over the last 10 years and she leaves the business with our thanks and very best wishes.”
Two analysts, Wendy Chen and Pieran Maru, will join the team to increase and deepen research support on the Disruptive Growth and Alpha Technology strategies, which the firm said are focus.
Gam said that the hires will enable the team to “further expand their coverage and to continue to identify those companies that are innovating with force and profoundly changing the way we live and work”.
Maru joins the team after five years working for Gam’s compliance function. He brings a knowledge of coding that Gam said will be “invaluable” as the team continues to automate more of its research and portfolio construction process.
Chen will join Gam in August from Welight Capital, a family office for one of the founding partners of Tencent, where she was an investment analyst covering the global internet sector. She previously spent five years as an associate at Goldman Sachs, focused on China online entertainment equity research. She will be based in Hong Kong.
Hawtin said: “These appointments are an important step in the drive towards further expanding our research platform, as well as enhancing the coverage universe as we cover more sectors of the market with a disruptive lens.”
The Disruptive Growth fund has returned 303.1% over five years, compared to the IA Global sector average returns of 100.6%. On a one-year basis, it returned 43.7% while the sector average was 23.3%.
