Rankia Funds Meeting makes its debut in Lugano: Strategic Insights for 2026
28 MAY, 2026
The first edition of the Rankia Funds Meeting Lugano brought together top-tier investment experts to discuss the current economic landscape and share innovative investment strategies. Held at Splendid Royal, May 19th, the exclusive event featured insights from distinguished professionals, including:
- Geraldine Arrigoni, Senior Porfolio Manager from Edgbaston Investment Partners
- Ronny Ruohomaa, Director – International Business Development at EVLI
- Richard Pandevant, Co-PM Exane Equity Select Europe from Exane AM
The morning began with a networking breakfast, allowing fund selectors and and buyers to exchange insights on key market challenges and opportunities. Each speaker then presented their firm's investment approach, fund strategies, and market perspectives, providing attendees with valuable takeaways on portfolio positioning and asset allocation in the current economic climate.
Edgbaston Investment Partners — Asia Pacific ex-Japan: Value, Income and Diversification
Geraldine Arrigoni, Senior Portfolio Manager at Edgbaston Investment Partners presented Edgbaston's investment case for Asia Pacific ex-Japan equities, highlighting the region’s combination of structural growth, attractive valuations, and diversification benefits.
The firm stressed the disconnect between Asia’s economic importance and its low representation in global equity indices. While the region accounts for around 60% of the world’s population and 50% of global GDP (PPP-adjusted), it represents only 11% of the MSCI AC World Index.
Edgbaston also argued that Asian equities continue to trade at significant discounts versus developed markets across valuation metrics such as P/E, P/B, and dividend yield. The team believes dividend income remains a key driver of long-term returns in the region.
The presentation further highlighted concerns about concentration risk in emerging market benchmarks, where a small number of large technology companies dominate index weights. In response, Edgbaston follows a highly active, benchmark-agnostic strategy focused on bottom-up stock selection.
With an 18-year track record, high active share, and strong alignment with clients through internal capital invested alongside investors, the firm positions itself as a specialist boutique focused exclusively on Asia Pacific ex-Japan opportunities.
Evli Asset Management — Nordic High Yield: Attractive Yields with Lower Volatility
Ronny Ruohomaa, Director International Business Development at Evli Asset Management presented Evli's investment approach to the Nordic high yield market, highlighting the region’s combination of attractive spreads, resilient credit fundamentals, and lower interest-rate sensitivity compared to traditional European high yield bonds.
The firm emphasized that Nordic high yield issuers typically offer spreads 100–200 basis points above European high yield for comparable credit risk, while historically maintaining similar default rates outside the energy sector. Evli also noted that the market is dominated by floating-rate bonds, resulting in shorter duration and lower volatility.
According to the presentation, the Nordic high yield market has continued to expand rapidly, supported by strong issuance activity and increasing investor demand. The firm described the market as highly differentiated from broader European high yield due to its local structure, stronger covenant protections, and higher proportion of secured debt.
Evli presented its Nordic High Yield strategy as a conservative, diversified approach focused on stable cash-flow-generating companies and rigorous bottom-up credit analysis. The portfolio currently offers a yield-to-maturity of around 6.7% with low modified duration and exposure to approximately 100 issuers across sectors and countries.
The firm also highlighted ESG integration as a central part of the investment process, incorporating sustainability analysis, exclusions, active ownership, and climate targets across all investment decisions.
Looking ahead, Evli remains constructive on credit markets, supported by solid corporate balance sheets, healthy refinancing conditions, and elevated yield levels that the firm believes continue to offer attractive risk-adjusted return potential for long-term investors.
Exane AM — Active European Equity Management Beyond Passive Investing
Richard Pandevant, Co-PM Exane Equity Select Europe at Exane Asset Management presented Exane AM's approach to European equities through the Exane Equity Select Europe strategy, emphasizing the ability of active management to deliver consistent outperformance while limiting exposure to style and sector rotations.
The firm highlighted the growing challenges faced by traditional active managers, noting that only a small percentage of European large-cap equity funds outperform passive alternatives over the long term. Exane argued that its hybrid approach — combining sector-neutral portfolio construction with high-conviction stock picking — seeks to overcome these limitations.
The strategy is built around approximately 50 stocks selected by a team of specialized sector managers, while maintaining market structure and risk characteristics close to the MSCI Europe benchmark. According to the presentation, this framework aims to generate alpha primarily through stock selection rather than macro, style, or factor bets.
Exane also emphasized the long-term consistency of the strategy. Since inception in 2011, the fund has outperformed the vast majority of both European large-cap funds and ETFs within its category. The team particularly stressed the portfolio’s “immunity” to major value-versus-growth rotations, allowing the strategy to perform across different market environments.
Risk management and ESG integration were presented as key pillars of the process. The strategy incorporates strict controls on sector exposure, factor biases, mid-cap risk, and sustainability metrics, while maintaining an Article 8 SFDR classification.
Finally, Exane announced the launch of active ETF share classes for its flagship European equity strategies, aiming to combine the accessibility and efficiency of ETFs with conviction-based active management.
Helping professionals in making better investment decisions
This first edition of the 'Funds Meetings' in Lugano 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!
