OUR INVESTMENT TEAM

Richard Kaye joined Comgest in 2009 and is an Analyst and Portfolio Manager specialising in Japanese equities. He is also a member of the Comgest Group's Investment Committee.

With a wealth of experience in Japanese equities, Richard became co-lead of Comgest’s Japan equity strategy upon joining the Group. He started his career in 1994 as an Analyst with the Industrial Bank of Japan and then joined Merrill Lynch in the same role in 1996. In 2005 he moved to the Wellington Management Company in Boston as a Portfolio Manager of Japanese TMT stocks.

Richard graduated from Oxford University (UK) where he majored in Oriental Studies.

Hannah Kleiven joined Comgest in 2024 and is an Analyst specialising in Global equities.

Prior to joining Comgest, Hannah worked as a Research Analyst for two years at Capital Group in London, where she covered European telecoms, retailers and industrials. Before that, she was a sell-side Equity Research Analyst for five years at Arete Research, covering European and US telecoms and media.

Hannah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from Sussex University in the United Kingdom.

Pierre Lamelin joined Comgest in 2012 and is an Analyst and Portfolio Manager specialising in European equities. He is also a member of the Comgest Group’s Sustainability Committee.

He co-leads the management of several Pan European strategies and contributes widely to the European team’s research coverage for a diverse selection of quality growth stocks across multiple sectors. Pierre started his career in 2004 as an Equity Analyst at Crédit Agricole Cheuvreux where he spent seven years covering the European luxury goods and cosmetics sectors.

He holds a Master’s degree in Finance from Sciences Po (Institut d’Etudes Politiques) in Paris and is a CIIA holder (Certified International Investment Analyst).

Léo Lenel joined Comgest in 2019 and is a Quantitative Analyst and Portfolio Manager.

Léo previously worked in quantitative research before becoming a risk manager and quantitative analyst for Pictet Asset Management in Geneva. His focus is on quantitative investment strategies, and particularly, the link between fundamental and quantitative management.

Léo graduated from the Ecole Centrale de Nantes and holds a Master's degree in Financial Engineering from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Swati Madhabushi joined Comgest in 2019 and is a Singapore-based Analyst and Portfolio Manager specialising in Indian equities.

Prior to joining Comgest, she worked with East Capital in Hong Kong for five years focusing on India, ASEAN and frontier Asia markets. She previously worked on the sell-side with UBS covering Indian financials.

Swati holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the India Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and a post-graduate diploma from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. She is also a CFA^® charterholder and fluent in Hindi.

Caroline Maes joined Comgest in 2012 and is an Analyst and Portfolio Manager specialising in Global Emerging Markets and Asian equities.

Caroline began her career with Comgest in Singapore and is now based in Paris where, in addition to her portfolio manager duties, she is also the GEM Business Manager. With over 10 years of investment experience, she began her career in 2003 as a Research Associate at Alliance Bernstein in New York before moving to the IPO department of UOB Kay Hian in Singapore in 2006. Caroline then joined CLSA in Singapore where she held the role of equity research Analyst for more than five years and won the Business Times - Starmine award for her stock recommendations.

She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Quantitative Economics and International Relations from Tufts University in the USA.

Pierre Maindron joined Comgest in 2014 and is an Analyst specialising in Global Emerging Markets equities, notably Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EEMEA).

Pierre initially joined Comgest as part of the group’s Organisation and Project department before moving to his current role in 2018. He started his career as an auditor with clients across diverse industries ranging from retail to insurance companies before becoming a consultant specialised in financial services, working for both Société Générale and Crédit Agricole.

Pierre is a CFA^® charterholder and graduated from Arts et Métiers ParisTech in France with a Master’s degree in Engineering.

Francesco Manfredini joined Comgest in 2023 and is an Analyst specialising in U.S. equities.

Francesco contributes to idea generation, researching quality-growth companies across different sectors. Prior to joining Comgest, Francesco was an Analyst and Portfolio Manager for a small- and mid-cap European equity fund and a global flexible fund at Clartan Associés.

Francesco holds Master’s degree in Economics and Business from Sciences Po Paris (France) and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from Bocconi University (Italy).

Connor Middleton joined Comgest in 2023 and is an Analyst specialising in European equities.

Connor contributes widely to the investment team’s research coverage for a diverse selection of pan-European quality growth stocks. Prior to joining Comgest, he worked as a Global Research Analyst at Newton Investment Management for two years, focusing primarily on the technology, media, and telecom sectors. He started his career as an Analyst at J.P. Morgan in 2018.

Connor holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (with Honours) from the University of Warwick (UK), which included study abroad at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Nicholas Morse joined Comgest in 2016 and is an Analyst and Portfolio Manager specialising in Global Emerging Markets equities.

Nicholas co-leads the GEM and GEM Plus strategies. With 30 years of investment experience, principally in Global Emerging Markets, Nicholas contributes widely to the team’s research coverage for a diverse selection of quality growth stocks across multiple sectors. Nicholas began his career in London where he held investment positions at Foreign & Colonial Management and Singer & Friedlander Investment Management Ltd before joining Grupo Financiero Banamex Accival (BANACCI) where he managed the firm’s Latin American Research Division in both Mexico City and New York. In 1994 he returned to the UK, joining Martin Currie where he was Head of Latin American Equities and co- Head of Global Emerging Markets. After spending over six years managing Mercury Asset Management / Merrill Lynch’s Latin American equity investments and as joint head of Emerging Markets, Nicholas spent ten years at Schroders Investment Management where he was Head of Latin America Equities.

A British national, Nicholas graduated from the University of Exeter with a Bachelor’s degree (Honours) in Economic and Social History. He is a member of the Gainsborough House Finance Committee.