Jennifer Walker of Bridge Investment Group Europe speaks at the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry’s upcoming private assets conference. Courtesy photo

Jennifer Walker of Bridge Investment Group Europe speaks at the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry’s upcoming private assets conference. Courtesy photo

The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry holds its Private Assets Conference 22-23 November 2022.

In advance of the event, Delano spoke with Jennifer Walker, head of office and conducting officer for Bridge Investment Group Europe. She is speaking on the “New to Luxembourg: recent additions to the AM space” panel, at 10am.

Aaron Grunwald: What do you want the audience to get most from the “New to Luxembourg: recent additions to the AM space” session?

: A year ago Bridge Europe didn’t have an office, any other employees or an AIFM license; so 2022 has been really transformational for us. I’m excited to share Bridge Europe’s story and how we were able to go from a new market entrant to being operational with the help of some excellent advisors.

Why did Bridge Investment Group set up an office in Luxembourg?

Luxembourg is a preeminent funds jurisdiction and Bridge had already launched a few funds here towards the start of the pandemic. We realised there were a lot of benefits of being physically in Europe, including being an AIFM to our own funds and being closer to our existing and prospective investors. We believe opening an office here will further Bridge’s aim of being a global leader in asset management.

What could make Luxembourg more attractive to other private market fund firms that don’t have an operation here?

Starting operations in a new country is a big investment and I think all new market entrants want to feel confident that commitment will yield strong growth, particularly with capital raising. Actively encouraging partnerships between experienced asset managers and local distribution partners could help solidify the long-term success of new market entrants.

Aside from your own talk at the Alfi event, which session are you most looking forward to hearing, and why?

I am really looking forward to the session right after “New to Luxembourg” about how asset managers are dealing with the SFDR [editor’s note: Wednesday 23 November at 11:05am]. This is really topical for Bridge, as we’re assessing launching some new ESG-focused funds and I’m excited to hear how other asset managers are dealing with the challenges, such as data collection.

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