Berenberg appoints Ralf Walter as Equity Portfolio Manager

By Joy Dumasia

Berenberg’s Wealth & Asset Management equity team has been strengthened with the appointment of Ralf Walter as a portfolio manager. Ralph joins from Allianz Global Investors, where he was most recently responsible for market-neutral equity strategies. He will be based in Frankfurt and report directly to Matthias Born, Co-Head Asset & Wealth Management and Head of the Equity Platform Berenberg.

Berenberg is strengthening its equity platform and paving the way for expanding the fund offering of Germany’s oldest private bank. To date, Berenberg offers nine equity funds, as well as eight bonds and five multi-asset funds.

51-year-old Ralf Walter has 20 years of experience in equity fund management. The graduate economist began his career in 1998 at ADIG, followed by Cominvest and Allianz Global Investors, where he was responsible for Germany’s oldest equity fund, Fondak. He was responsible for classic long-only portfolios and market-neutral long-short strategies, and the funds he managed received several awards over the years. In 2011, he was jointly responsible for implementing and initiating the market-neutral fund Allianz Discovery Germany Strategy, of which he was also the responsible fund manager.

Matthias Born, Co-Head Asset & Wealth Management and Head of the Equity Platform at Berenberg, says: “With Ralf Walter, we have been able to win over a very experienced fund manager. Ralph brings many years of experience in the field of alternative equity strategies and, he will be a great asset to our equities team. His expertise is a great addition to our established fund management business, particularly for investors who want to achieve absolute returns with limited market exposure based on Berenberg’s stock-picking expertise.”

The Wealth & Asset Management of Germany’s oldest private bank has grown enormously in the past three years. Currently, the investment experts manage over 33 billion euros of assets. Recently, the bank was named Germany’s best asset management by the magazine Euro.