14/09/2011
First State to open an office in Paris
The Australian asset management firm First State Investments is preparing to open its first office in Paris. The opening of the office is imminent, according to a spokesperson for the firm, who could not provide more specific information. It is slated for next week or the week following. A person is expected to be appointed to direct the office, who one may suppose would be one of the two who have recently left positions at other companies. It will be First State’s first office in continental Europe; others will follow in other countries.First State, which belongs to Colonial First State Global Asset Management, the largest fund management firm in Australia (GBP99.2bn in assets as of 30 June), is already present in London and Edinburgh, but not yet in continental Europe. The firm manages Asian and emerging markets equity funds, global resources, global equities, publicly-traded real estate, and infrastructure.What is known about First State’s Parisian office so far is that its first occupant will be Philippe Taillardat, who has joined the firm to become co-director of the investment and infrastructure Europe management team, with Danny Latham, alongside Niall Mills, head of infrastructure asset management, and Marcus Ayre, head of infrastructure transactions.Taillardat has more than 20 years of experience in infrastructure and project financing. Since December 2010, he has been director of his own consulting firm, specialised in investment and financing solutions in the non-publicly traded infrastructure investment sector. He previously worked at Amundi Private Equity Funds, where he was head of development for non-publicly traded infrastructure funds of funds for institutional investors.
