Zurich-headquartered GAM has announced it will be closing five funds managing a total of €258m in assets.
The funds that will close include GAM Star (Lux) European Alpha, GAM Absolute Return Europe Equity, GAM Star (Lux) European Momentum, GAM Star (Lux) Global Alpha, and GAM Star (Lux) Convertible Alpha.
In a statement, the firm said that it expected to complete an "orderly closure" and return all the money in the funds to clients in a few weeks.
Gianmarco Mondani, co-manager of three of the closing funds and head of the non-directional equity team in Lugano, is leaving the firm.
GAM has said that it is likely around 16 employees working in Lugano will also have their jobs cut, including the investment managers running the closing funds, in addition to several support and operational staff.
The firm also announced plans to reshuffle its global equities team.
Jian Shi Cortesi, who manages the GAM Asia Focus and GAM China Evolution Strategies, and Roberto Bottoli, manager of the GAM Star (Lux) Merge Arbitrage Strategy, will now join the global equities team, headed up by Mark Hawtin.
Swetha Ramachandran will also join the team. She currently manages GAM's Luxury Brands Equity strategy.
Hawtin has over 27 years investment experience and manages the GAM Star Disruptive Growth and GAM Star Alpha Technology strategies.
The team will now collectively manage $2.5bn in assets.
First published by our sister title Investment Week
