Rankia Funds Meeting makes its debut in Dublin: Strategic Insights for 2026

The first edition of the Rankia Funds Meeting Dublin brought together top-tier investment experts to discuss the current economic landscape and share innovative investment strategies. Held at The College Green Hotel Dublin on Wednesday, March 4th, the exclusive event featured insights from distinguished professionals, including:

• Ronny Ruohomaa, Director – International Business Development at EVLI
• Pierre Puybasset, Spokesman of the Fund Management Team, and Davide Bersan, Country Head Italy at La Financière de l'Echiquier (LBP AM Group)
• Andrew McCagg, Senior Client Portfolio Manager, and Kevin McFarlane, Business Development Director – North & Ireland Region at Nomura Asset Management

The event kicked off at 11:00 AM with an inaugural presentation delivered by José Ignacio de Andrés Blanco, CFA, PRM, CIPM, from the CFA Society Ireland. This engaging opening was immediately followed by an exclusive Q&A session with Giorgio Carlino, Head of Multi-Management at Mediolanum International - Ireland. Expertly moderated by José Ignacio, Giorgio shared his valuable insights on asset allocation, differentiation, and the future of fund selection, setting the perfect stage for our professional investor community.

Following the initial presentations, the event transitioned into dynamic one-to-few meetings. This format allowed EVLI, La Financière de l'Echiquier, and Nomura Asset Management to share their specific views on the markets, their investment strategies, and their outlook for the year ahead in a highly interactive environment. The morning concluded with a networking lunch, providing the attending professionals with an excellent opportunity to share perspectives and connect with peers.

EVLI - Evli Nordic High Yield 

Ronny Ruohomaa, Director – International Business Development, presented the Evli Nordic High Yield fund.

The Evli Nordic High Yield Fund is a long-term corporate bond fund that invests mainly in bonds issued by Nordic companies, financial institutions, and other organizations. Its investments are primarily focused on lower credit-rated High Yield bonds and unrated corporate bonds, although it can also allocate to higher-rated Investment Grade bonds. The strategy aims to achieve the highest possible yield relative to the credit risk of the targeted companies.

Classified as an SFDR Article 8 fund, it strongly integrates ESG principles. It is designed for investors who want to benefit from the competitive performance and the historically stable political and economic operating environment of the Nordic market, while ensuring their investments promote environmental, social, and good governance factors. Backed by Evli's deep expertise in Nordic corporate bonds, the strategy currently offers an attractive yield profile with low duration, making it a highly compelling option for navigating today's fixed-income landscape.

La Financière de l'Echiquier (LBP AM Group) - Echiquier Space 

Pierre Puybasset, Spokesman of the Fund Management Team, and Davide Bersan, Country Head Italy, presented the Echiquier Space fund.

The Echiquier Space is an International Equity Fund that invests in the Space theme, i.e. in companies that develop aerospace themes and technology or benefit from it. Echiquier Space focuses on what we call Space 2.0 or Newspace, i.e. the aerospace industry with a commercial and security (defense) purpose, in which space is explored to achieve scientific advances, develop new technologies and improve the flow and transmission of data and information.

It has a concentrated portfolio with 30/35 growth style positions belonging to one of the 4 categories defined by the management team:

1. From our Planet
2. From Space
3. Between Planet and Space
4. Transversal Technologies

Launched in May 2021, it is the first European fund to invest in this innovative theme of NewSpace.

Nomura Asset Management - Nomura Japan Strategic Value Fund 

Andrew McCagg, Senior Client Portfolio Manager, and Kevin McFarlane, Business Development Director – North & Ireland Region, introduced the Nomura Japan Strategic Value Fund.

The Nomura Japan Strategic Value Fund aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of Japanese equity securities. It employs a purely "bottom-up" approach with no market-cap bias and no sector constraints—except for binding ESG criteria—where the quality of stock selection remains paramount.

The investment team seeks to unlock value at the stock level by identifying companies they consider to be undervalued but possessing strong potential and resilience, heavily emphasizing the long-term theme of improving returns at a corporate level.

Managed by a highly experienced team based in Tokyo and classified as an SFDR Article 8 product, the fund typically holds a high-conviction portfolio of 70 to 150 stocks, offering professional investors an unconstrained, insight-driven route to capture upside potential in the Japanese equity market.

Helping professionals in making better investment decisions 

This first edition of the 'Funds Meetings' in Dublin was part of our Funds Meetings events, which offer a unique opportunity to meet directly with the managers while fostering networking. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our sponsors for making this event possible, and to all the professional attendees who joined us during an enriching event where we could share insights and perspectives on the investment markets. Looking forward to the next edition!