(February 6, 2014) – Federated Investors has hired former Broadmark Senior Managing Director Michael Dieschbourg to lead its new alternatives/managed-risk group.
Dieschbourg started as managing director and senior vice president of the Philadelphia-based fund manager on January 6.
The new unit represents a major strategic push for Federated into downside-protected and highly liquid active equities products.
“What liability-driven investing (LDI) did for fixed income, we’re going to be doing for equity allocation strategies,” Dieschbourg told aiCIO. “LDI transformed fixed-income managers, and you had leaders emerge. Like LDI, in this group we’re looking at outcomes, solving clients problems in a conservative way, and changing the definition of risk to, ‘What’s the impact on the client portfolio?’”
Dieschbourg will oversee the development and launch of Federated’s offerings in this space. His team of 13 has been assembled from two prior divisions at Federated. Dieschbourg reports directly to Stephen Auth, CIO for global equities.
“Michael’s management experience and deep knowledge of managed-risk portfolios from both the perspective of an investment manager and as a consultant make him an ideal leader for our recently formed alternatives/managed-risk investment group,” said Auth.
The division has four products on the market and plans to expand the suite over time. All seek to minimize drawdown risk and volatility without sacrificing (too much) upside.
“We’ve had this great bull run in bond markets, which is coming to an end,” Dieschbourg said. “But growth is still important. The key is staying focused and involved in the marketplace, but not getting killed in the mean time.”
Federated managed $376 billion in assets between 135 funds and various managed accounts at the end of 2013.