J. Stern & Co., an asset management shop based in London and Zurich, has opened a New York City office after registering with the SEC in January.
J. Stern oversees around $1 billion in client assets, a quarter of which are managed on behalf of the Stern family. Entrepreneurs, wealth managers, trustees, charities, institutions and other families comprise the remainder, with a number of retail clients investing through industry platforms.
The New York City office, located at One Rockefeller Plaza, is the firm’s fourth location worldwide, after a third was added in Malta last summer.
J. Stern’s history dates back more than 200 years, when Jakob Stern established Bankhaus Jakob S.H. Stern & Co. in Franklin, Germany, in 1805. Over subsequent centuries, the Stern family established multiple European banks and made some significant investments—including taking a stake in the Panama Canal project in 1880 and investing heavily in what is now the Union Pacific Railroad.
The asset management firm was officially established in 2012 by Jérôme Stern and Chris Rossbach, building on a single-family office that had been managing Stern assets following the sale of Banque Stern to the Swiss Bank Corporation (which later merged with UBS) in 1988.
The NYC office will be led by Christian Picot and Ronald Dooley, who have joined J. Stern as principals.
“We are pleased to have Christian and Ron join our team, as we look to further expand our global capability,” Jérôme Stern said in a statement. “We are committed to growing our business in the U.S. and Canada, with our family’s multigenerational investment philosophy, grounded in long-term investing, doing your own research, and investing only in quality.”
J. Stern offers differentiated strategies in global, U.S., and European equities, corporate and emerging market bonds and multiasset investing. The investment approach is based on proprietary research and active engagement with the management teams of companies in which it’s invested.
Picot and Dooley join from Stewart Asset Management, where Picot was managing director and Dooley led finance and operations.
Prior to Stewart, Picot was a portfolio manager with alternative fund managers Alexandra and Odyssey. Before that, he held global management positions in the investment banking divisions of Credit Lyonnais and Paribas (which was co-founded by Jacques Stern in 1872).
Dooley previously held senior-level positions in consulting with Alvarez & Marsal and in corporate and investment banking at Scotia Capital. He has experience in financial transactions, performance improvement, risk management and portfolio management.
“Ron and I are excited to join J. Stern & Co. and to lead the development of the firm’s activities in North America,” said Picot. “For more than a decade, J. Stern & Co. has provided an enviable commitment to its clients from its London and Zurich offices, while generating consistent long-term investment returns. We look forward to replicating this experience in the North American market.”
