Swiss private banking major Pictet has appointed Edmund Buckley as head of the direct private equity division, reported Reuters.
The appointment comes as the Geneva-based group seeks to bolster its alternative investment business. It is also said to be one of the major hires under Pictet Alternative Advisors division head Elif Aktu, who joined the firm’s eight managing partners in September last year.
Buckley joins Pictet from the private equity firm THI Investments, where he served as a manager. His appointment is expected to grow the business of direct investment in firms.
Pictet considers alternative investments among its key growth areas. At the end of 2021, the firm has client assets of $32.56bn (CHF32bn) in private equity, hedge funds, and real estate funds.
At the time, the firm’s total assets under management were CHF698bn.
Pictet also named Andreas Klein to the newly created role of head of Private Debt, a spokesperson for the firm told the news agency.
Klein most recently worked at Intermediate Capital Group.
Recent development at Pictet
Last October, Pictet Group forged a wealth management alliance with Bangkok Bank to offer wealth management services for the bank’s wealth clients in Thailand.
In August last year, the wholly-owned Shanghai unit of Pictet Asset Management registered as a Qualified Domestic Limited Partner (QDLP) Manager with the Asset Management Association of China.
The move allowed the firm to develop and provide QDLP offerings to qualified investors in China to invest in its offshore strategies.
In 2020, Pictet Asset Management set up a unit in Shanghai to raise funds from mainland investors into its offshore strategies under the QDLP scheme.
