Comgest to segregate CEO and CIO roles
Comgest to segregate CEO and CIO roles
Comgest announces the intention to segregate the roles of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Investment Officer (CIO), effective from 31 December 2022. Arnaud Cosserat, who currently holds both positions, will remain CEO and Franz Weis will be appointed CIO. A gradual transition of the CIO roles and responsibilities will take place throughout 2023.
With Comgest’s bottom-up stock selection process and broad partnership structure, the CIO role is different to traditional approaches and focuses on maintaining the firm’s quality growth investment culture and ensuring the required tools, processes, and resources are in place.
Each investment team is responsible for directing their research and portfolio construction, working collaboratively with other teams to cross-fertilise knowledge and stimulate idea generation. The Comgest CIO in his role is not deciding the ‘house view’.
Franz Weis has been a Portfolio Manager of European equities at Comgest since 2005, becoming head of the team in 2012. Following the CIO appointment, Franz will continue in these roles. He has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2014, and as CIO, Franz will become Chair of the Investment Committee.
Franz Weis commented: “I look forward to succeeding Arnaud as CIO of Comgest and ensuring the ongoing delivery of our singular quality growth investment approach. We will continue to enjoy our everyday interactions within the European investment team, analysing stocks together as we have done since I joined in 2005.