Philip Best
Chairman of the Board, Portfolio Manager

Philip Best is the Chairman of QUAERO CAPITAL’s Board. He is also a Founding Partner of the company and a Portfolio Manager.
He started his career as a fund manager at Warburg Investment Management in 1983 initially as a trainee, then managing the Mercury European Income Fund. In 1987, he joined Enskilda Securities as a broker specialising in European small cap companies. In 1994 he established and ran the Paris office of The Europe Company Limited, a specialist research-driven European small cap brokerage (purchased by Jefferies & Co in 2000).
In 2003, he launched The Argonaut Fund, a fund he still manages today.
Philip Best graduated from Oxford University. He worked in London and Paris before he settled in Geneva. He is bilingual in English and French.
Sophie Bigeard
Head of Multi-Asset, Quaero Capital (France) SAS

Sophie Bigeard joined Quaero Capital (France) SAS in June 2020.
A multi-manager investment professional for 25 years, she began her career in 1995 at the Banque du Louvre, as a mutual fund analyst and then as Head of External Partnerships. In 2002, she joined the Société Générale group in Luxembourg as a Fund of Funds Manager for SGBT Lux.
In 2004, she joined OFI Asset Management as a Fund of Funds Manager and then Head of Long Only Multi-Management. In 2017, she created the UCI Selection team for the entire OFI Group, a team which she headed until June 2020.
Sophie holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Paris II Panthéon Assas and a DEA in International Finance from Sciences Po Paris. Since September 2023 she has been Présidente de la Société des Sélectionneurs de Fonds (SF2).
Edouard de l’Espée
Portfolio Manager

Edouard de l’Espée joined Quaero Capital SA in 2022 as Portfolio Manager.
He began his career in 1972 as a financial analyst and went on to pursue an extensive career in institutional asset management and research. From 1981 he managed a bond fund for a subsidiary bank of the UBS Group. In 1986 he joined Cursitor Ltd. in London, an independent asset manager, where he developed and managed investment funds based on in-house macro research.
By building expertise in macroeconomic analysis, he has managed bond funds for over 30 years and received awards from Standard & Poor’s for outstanding performance over 3, 5 and 10 years. From 2004 to 2021, Edouard was a member of the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee and then the Governance Committee of the Wendel Group (France), a public investment company with gross assets of over EUR 10 billion, which makes large investments as an active shareholder with a long-term perspective. He brought to this role his strong macroeconomic analysis skills and his experience in the financial markets.
Edouard is a graduate of ESCP, Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris.
Eric Daniel
Portfolio Manager, Quaero Capital LLP

Eric Daniel joined Quaero Capital LLP in 2020 and manages the Global Convertible Bonds investment strategy.
Prior to joining Quaero Capital, he was a portfolio manager for Tyndaris. His career in convertibles bonds spans over 22 years across a number of tier-1 global investment banks, including Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank. He opened the KBC Financial Products continental Europe branch in 2000. He was Head of Equity Derivatives and Convertibles Bonds sales for Citigroup (Paris) covering the largest global convertible bonds accounts for the bank until December 2014.
He started his career as a futures and equity derivatives trader at Bacot Allain Warburg from 1991 to 1994 and managed a CTA fund at Capital Fund Management in Paris until 1997.
Eric graduated from the French Business School ESC Le Havre in Business & Economics with a specialisation in Finance.
Mark Ebert
Portfolio Manager

Mark Ebert joined Quaero Capital SA in 2012 and manages the Infrastructure Securities Fund.
He began his career with Price Waterhouse in Chicago and London. He then joined Citicorp Investment Bank – London in the Corporate Finance / M&A Department responsible for transatlantic M&A advisory. He joined UBS in London as Head of European M&A, becoming Senior Managing Director – Global Co-ordinator of M&A, based in Zurich. He became co-head of Panmure Gordon in London, an Institutional Broker and Corporate Finance Adviser focussed on UK & European high growth sectors.
He then pursued his career as a Member of the Executive Committee and Head of Lombard Odier’s Investment Banking Division in Geneva. He was responsible for the bank’s Private Equity activities as well as Securities Trading, Equity Brokerage, and M&A. He then founded Quadrum Partners in Zurich, providing corporate finance advisory services to European Institutional Investment Managers.
He later joined the Fortune Group, London, as Chairman. Fortune advised institutional investors on hedge fund strategies and ran several Hedge Funds of Funds. After Close Brothers acquired Fortune, he became a Managing Director and was responsible for developing Close’s Real Asset investment strategy, before joining QUAERO CAPITAL.
Mark’s degrees inlcude BSc, Gdip, and MSc. He qualified as a Certified Public Accountant.
David Giboudeau
Portfolio Manager

David Giboudeau joined Quaero Capital SA in March 2021 as Portfolio Manager for the Infrastructure Securities fund.
He previously worked at Auris Gestion in Paris for seven years as Equity Analyst and then became Portfolio Manager. He managed several European and international equities funds for both wealth managers and institutional clients.
David graduated from Neoma Business School, holds a master’s degree in Economics from Paris X University and is a CFA® charterholder.
Benjamin Kelly
Senior Research Analyst, Quaero Capital LLP

Benjamin Kelly joined Quaero Capital LLP in December 2021 as a Senior Research Analyst.
Recently he worked at Charles Stanley as an analyst within its equity research team; he was responsible for the selection of UK Equities for Charles Stanley’s internal model portfolios.
Prior to Charles Stanley, he started his career in 2013 as a research assistant at Thesis Asset Management and has also previously worked at Aviva Investors and Baring Asset Management.
Benjamin has completed the Investment Management Certificate and is a CFA® charterholder.
Frédéric Loisel
Portfolio Manager, Quaero Capital (France) SAS

Frédéric Loisel joined Quaero Capital (France) SAS in November 2021 in the the Fixed income team.
From 2006 to 2018, he was Managing Director in charge of the Solutions Sales Team at Deutsche Bank in Paris.
Previously, he was Head of Institutional Sales at IXIS CIB after having been Sales Manager France at DZ Bank in Frankfurt as well as Market Economist and Money Trader at Louis Dreyfus Finance.
Frédéric has graduated from Sciences Po Paris and holds a degree in History.
Xavier Nicolas
Portfolio Manager, Quaero Capital (France) SAS

Xavier Nicolas joined Quaero Capital (France) SAS in 2021 and manages the Fixed income strategies.
From 2001 to 2018, he was responsible for mandates Private Debt team at Aviva Investors France and Head of the fixed income UCITS funds.
Previously, he was Lead Manager of AFER’s bond portfolio after having managed bond and convertible funds for various management companies.
Xavier holds a DEA in Econometrics from the University of Paris 1.
Alessandro Pozzo
Junior Equity Analyst

Alessandro Pozzo joined Quaero Capital SA in September 2023 as Junior ESG Analyst.
He previously worked at Procter and Gamble in Geneva for 3 years as a Student-Intern, where he was also part of the Global Sustainability Team.
Alessandro is currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s in International Business Management at the Geneva School of Business Administration – University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Italian.
Ife Retat-Okewole
Research Analyst, Quaero Capital LLP

Ife Retat-Okewole joined Quaero Capital LLP in 2021 as a Junior Research Analyst.
Before joining Quaero Capital, he supported the infrastructure investment team at Arjun Infrastructure Partners.
Prior to Arjun, he worked as an Equity Research Analyst at Paradigma Capital.
He also gained experience at the Arab World Institute in the Press Office and at Axa Investment Managers, where he analysed and interpreted account records.
Ife holds a Bachelor’s (Hons) degree in Economics and Politics from the University of Bristol and is bilingual in English and French. Additionally, he has passed the CFA® Level 1 exam.
Marc Saint John Webb
Portfolio Manager

Marc Saint John Webb joined Quaero Capital SA in 2006 as Portfolio Manager.
He started investing in European equities in 1987, when he joined Warburg Securities in Paris. He subsequently worked as a research analyst for Schelcher Prince before moving on to small cap stock picking at Oddo. In 1997, he joined CCF Elysées Bourse as Head of the Small Caps Division, where he developed a new research product dedicated to smaller companies. He oversaw a number of IPOs and raised further capital for listed smaller companies. In 2001, he co-founded IXIS-Rothschild Midcaps, a Paris-based joint venture specialising in corporate brokerage and research on French mid-sized companies.
Marc studied at Aston Business School in England, the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain and INSEAD in France. He holds the diploma of the SFAF (the French Society of Financial Analysts).
Philippe Scemama
Portfolio Manager, Quaero Capital (France) SAS

Philippe Scemama joined Quaero Capital (France) SAS in November 2021 in the the Fixed income team.
From 2005 to 2017, he was Co-Head of Institutional Investor Solutions at Goldman Sachs in London and Paris.
Previously, he was Head of Central Banks and Supranational Investors at IXIS CIB after having been Head of Hedge Funds Sales at CIC’s European Union and Auditor in charge of financial institutions at Ernst & Young.
Philippe is a graduate of HEC.
Laurent Stöckli
Portfolio Manager

Laurent Stöckli joined Quaero Capital SA in August 2017 in the role of Research Analyst. As of September 2024 he is Portfolio Manager.
He started his career working for a Swiss-based Hedge fund as research analyst and then Portfolio manager. Several years later, he joined the international family office, Stanhope Capital, with responsibility for the portfolio management in Geneva for Ultra High Net Worth Individual clients.
Laurent holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland.
Louis-Marie Toupet
Portfolio Manager, Quaero Capital (France) SAS

Louis-Marie Toupet joined Quaero Capital (France) SAS in Paris in 2018 as Portfolio Manager within the Multi-Assets team.
He previously worked in the Risk Department at DNCA Finance in Luxembourg as assistant risk manager.
Louis-Marie holds a Master’s degree in Economic and Financial Engineering from the University of Rennes 1, with a specialisation in Data Science.
Martina Turner
Portfolio Manager, Quaero Capital (France) SAS

Martina Turner joined Quaero Capital (France) SAS in 2017 as a Portfolio Manager.
She has 30 years of experience in European financial markets. She is the founder of the Accessible Clean Energy investment strategy.
Following extensive experience acquired at Tier-1 financial institutions in equities, business development, and clean energy investments, she received training in solar technology and materials ‘science’ at MIT seminars and in microcredit for solar installation at Grameen Bank.
Subsequently, she developed an investment strategy to generate profitable returns investing in companies focused on development, production and sale of technologies that enable the global dissemination of clean energy from the developed world to the most populated and most remote regions. After over 2 years of successful tracking, the investment model became the strategy of a structured fund, anchored by a pension fund.
Martina holds a Master of Science from the Faculty of Economics of the London School of Economics. She is a member of the French Analyst Society.