Botond Bilibók, chief executive of Concorde Asset Management, is more than ready to admit where his business is lacking: "Our portfolio management is professional and successful, comparable to companies that operate in Geneva, London and Frankfurt. However, we lack expertise when it comes to sales. We are looking for partners to help us in this respect."
In 2011, Concorde’s income grew 10% more than in 2010 even though the business lost assets under management of Ft47 billion ($210 million) after the government nationalized pension funds.
Clients looking for safety turn to Concorde for investments in absolute-return funds, which the company considers a safe choice in a volatile market. "In 2011, the returns on absolute-return funds rose from 7.9% to 15.3%; our clients invested more than Ft20 billion more in these funds than in 2010," says Bilibók.
"We have focused on absolute-return portfolios and funds for 15 years," he says. "We tried to make this portfolio management approach popular 10 years ago, but the real success came in 2008 and 2009 when [investors] were looking for less risky investments with reasonable real returns."
Founded in 1993, Concorde began as a brokerage company specializing in research and trading in securities before becoming a diversified finance house and one of the leading independent players in its sector in Central and Eastern Europe.