CFI.co Meets the CEO of Montpensier Finance: Guillaume Dard

Performance arises from the union of talent and method. This is the conviction of Montpensier Finance, based on a long experience of investment and a resolutely entrepreneurial culture. With over € 2 billion in assets under management, this independent management company based in Paris developed itself around three core competencies: multi-asset, European equities, and convertible bonds.

“We are proud that our three-pronged approach in asset management has helped us realise continuous growth in the past years,” says CEO Guillaume Dard who acquired the company in 2004. “To compete in a complex world, our managers work as a team and use our methods as well as our analytical tools, developed over many years and enriched permanently. Our collegial, qualitative, and quantitative approach allows our managers to have a solid foundation in a rapidly changing financial environment.”

The belief of Montpensier Finance is that companies are facing three major trends: contested globalisation, irresistible digitisation, and growing regulation. Therefore, they unite their bottom-up and top-down visions in their investment processes. This differentiating angle helps managers to identify the growth potential of a company, to understand its lifecycle, and to analyse its valuation, aiming to select the most attractive investment vehicles.

To understand the success of Montpensier Finance, we need to go back thirty years. In 1988, with the backing of the Taittinger champagne family, Guillaume Dard created and developed Banque du Louvre, a pioneer in multi-management. At the time, no bank was practicing that, as they were all focused exclusively on selling in-house products. “We have implemented several partnerships with reputable companies such as Pimco, Goldman Sachs, and Legg Mason. Thus, we have been able to build an array of products of very good quality and Banque du Louvre acquired, as a result, a great reputation and enjoyed strong commercial success.”

“When HSBC became a major shareholder, and decided to merge Banque du Louvre with other entities, I felt the need to take on a new challenge. I therefore took control over Montpensier Finance. My experience of partnership with American asset managers convinced me of a principle: success = process + talent. We have therefore been very attentive to select very talented men and women and to be consistent on the development of our methods.”

One of the proprietary model used for the top-down approach is the MMS (Montpensier Market Scan). “Twenty-five years ago, a manager’s challenge was to collect all the information needed to make the right decision. Today, the challenge is to know how to sort and analyse relevant information within a deluge of daily data” says Mr Dard.

The MMS method relies on a four-pillar analysis to determine allocation. First, the economic momentum, examines the acceleration or deceleration of growth. This indicator is composed of ‘lead and lag’ data over a two-year horizon. It gives an indication of potential trend reversals. The second pillar is looking at monetary dynamics, i.e. central bank policies and the behaviour of interest and exchange rates. The third pillar, market valuation includes data on earnings growth, geographical and sectoral data, as well as return on equity, according to different scenarios. Finally, the fourth pillar of the method concerns market dynamics, in which the flows and technical behaviour of these markets are analysed.

“That’s the way we have achieved the first successes of Montpensier Finance,” concludes Mr Dard. i