Alpina Capital hires experienced ILS executive Gregor Gawron

Alpina Capital, the asset manager that took over the management and distribution of the Falcon Private Bank catastrophe bond funds, has hired Dr. Gregor Gawron, an experienced executive in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) space and a former manager of that cat bond strategy a decade ago.

Gawron has joined Alpina Capital this month, taking on a position as Managing Director.

He has more than 20 years of experience in asset management, much of which has been focused on catastrophe bond and ILS investment fund management.

His career has seen him managing portfolios of cat bond and ILS assets, as well as establishing new franchises and research functions with an ILS focus.

Alpina Capital, a Swiss regulated investment manager, through its Alpina Fund Management S.A. unit, acquired Falcon Fund Management (Luxembourg) S.A. at the end of 2020, taking over the business and the catastrophe bond funds, after which it transformed them into ESG compliant strategies under the EU taxonomy.

The investment manager then received approval as a manager of collective assets from the Swiss financial market supervisory authority FINMA, giving it greater access to the Swiss pension fund community.

Gawron began his career at RMF/Man Investments as a hedge fund manager with a focus on alternatives including insurance-linked securities (ILS) and weather derivatives.

In 2010, Gawron moved to Falcon Private Bank, becoming its Head of Insurance Linked and Quantitative Solutions, and so putting the cat bond fund that Alpina Capital now owns under his remit.

He later ran ILS and catastrophe bond investment strategies at Dynapartners, before joining Lombard Odier to launch its cat bond strategy as Head of Insurance Linked Strategies, finally ending up at Credit Suisse in early 2021 as an ILS portfolio manager focused on its cat bond fund.

The hire likely reflects Alpina Capital’s ambitions for its catastrophe bond fund strategies, suggesting the manager has a target for growing assets under management and increasing the importance of the cat bond fund.