Kairos is a business initiative founded in 1999 by a small group of partners led by Paolo Basilico, and united in their common vision of creating excellence outside the box of big industry thinking.
Kairos is a business first and a financial company second, founded out of our passion for wealth management, as delicate a profession as it may be.
Kairos is synonymous with success in the asset management sector.
We are today exactly what we set out to become, and there is no greater satisfaction in professional life.
Controlled by the Julius Baer Group, and boasting a strategic presence in major domestic and international financial marketplaces, around 150 workers and AUM of over € 11 billion*,
Kairos is now an asset management and private banking leader.
From the small, temporary office in via Conservatorio, Milan to a player on the world’s main financial markets, Kairos is the result of an opportunity and a bright idea: create an alternative to big asset management industry players by rethinking investment strategies and the business model.
The Kairos Group initially specialized in hedge funds, which are more flexible investments than traditional mutual funds. In 1999, it launched its first long-short single-manager fund. It was managed by Kairos Investment Management Limited based in London, considered a vital hub for global financial information. In the same year, Kairos Partners SGR was established in Italy and received the Bank of Italy’s authorization to perform asset management activities. It began operating in 2000 with the launch of two open-ended investment funds.
When Italy passed legislation opening the market to hedge funds, Kairos decided to put its expertise in the hedge fund business to use in Italy as well, launching the country’s first hedge fund of funds. The brand began making a name for itself in the industry for the performance of its managed funds, its revolutionary approach to new products, its independence and the way in which it aligned its interests with those of its clients.
Over the years, Kairos grew both in terms of AUM and staff, reaching € 7 billion in 2007, with over 100 resources in London, Milan, Rome, Lugano and Turin.
The crisis that took markets by surprise in 2008 led to a substantial contraction in assets under management for Kairos, which, rather than focusing on cutting costs, chose to respond with more dynamism on the market, recruiting additional professionals with proven ability and experience.
The Group reworked its strategy to meet the new needs of its clients and investors in general. It expanded its offer, reducing the percentage of hedge funds in its product portfolio and gradually including UCITS funds, without forgoing its absolute return investment approach.
By the end of 2011, the Group had a new strategic structure, a more balanced and well-diversified product portfolio that included compliant UCITS funds, a new Italian Wholesale distribution division mainly targeting retail clients and a stronger brand.
In 2012, Kairos began an important strategic partnership with the Julius Baer Group to forge a long-term alliance in investment advisory and portfolio management services for HNW clients. Kairos acquired 100% of Julius Baer SIM, while the Swiss group picked up a 19.9% interest in Kairos Investment Management SpA. Julius Baer is the ideal partner for Kairos, as it shares the same business culture, focused on wealth management and client relationships and because it believes in the potential of Italy.
In 2014, the Group began to diversify its product portfolio further by expanding its offer for institutional clients, with the creation of the Global Institutional division, and became the management company of Kairos International Sicav.
In April 2016, Julius Baer Group Ltd increased its stake in Kairos Investment Management SpA from 19.9% to 80%, then to 100% in January 2018. In the meantime, Kairos Julius Baer SIM merged into Kairos Partners SGR in 2017, streamlining the Group’s organizational structure. In yet another demonstration of its faith in the strength of our brand, Julius Baer chose not to replace the managers who, since 1999, have led Kairos to success.
Over the past five years, the Group has significantly expanded its expertise on international markets, extending the reach of its operations in investments and advisory and wealth management services, boosting profitability and increasing AUM to over €11 billion.
Always looking ahead without ever forgetting who we are.
When a relationship is based on reliability and confidentiality, ethics comes naturally.
Kairos believes in the value of people, because a management company is only as strong as its resources and their skills are what make the difference in results.
Kairos pursues an “understated” financial model for the management of its clients’ wealth in the long term.
Kairos strives to perfectly align management’s interests with those of its clients. Its managers are the first to invest in the solutions that they propose to clients.
Expertise alone is not enough. To maintain our clients’ trust, we need people who practice this profession with a deep sense of responsibility.
Knowing how to respond to market changes and meet clients’ needs in the long term are the sine qua non of our business.
Kairos operated in Italy, the United Kingdom and Switzerland with four companies:
Paolo Basilico – Chief Executive Officer
Guido Maria Brera – CIO Fund Management
Pio Benetti – CIO Discretionary Portfolio Management
Andrea Panzeri – Head of Risk Management
Caterina Giuggioli – Head of Sales Private Banking
Amir Kuhdari – Head of Sales Asset Management
Fabrizio Rindi – Chairman
Paolo Basilico – Director
Fabio Bariletti – Director
Guido Maria Brera – Director
Caterina Giuggioli – Director
Sabrina Goi – Director
Carlo Lanfranchi – Director
Paolo Olivieri – Director
Dante Roscini – Indipendent Director
Luigi Vignola – Director
Anna Viviani – Indipendent Director
Franco Fondi – Chairman
Fabio Maria Venegoni – Standing Auditor
Annunziata Melaccio – Standing Auditor
Massimo Paolo Gentili – Alternate Auditor
Mirko Orsi – Alternate Auditor
Fabio Bariletti – Chief Executive Officer
Stefano Prosperi – Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Paolo Basilico – Director
Yves Bonzon – Director
Niklas Antman – Director
Pietro Moggi – Chairman
Vito Valvano – General Manager and Director
Claudio Beretta – Director
Andrea Boella – Director
Paolo Bosani – Director
Luigia Giuliani Thompson – Director
Simone Bassi – Director
Antonio Carbone – Director
Paolo Basilico – Chairman
Fabio Bariletti – Director
Fabrizio Rindi – Director
Yves Robert-Charreu – Director
Luigi Vignola – Director
Dante Roscini – Indipendent Director
Franco Fondi – Chairman
Fabio Maria Venegoni – Standing Auditor
Annunziata Melaccio – Standing Auditor
Massimo Paolo Gentili – Alternate Auditor
Mirko Orsi – Alternate Auditor
Over the years, Kairos has received a number of prestigious international awards which have helped make it one of the world’s top managers. It has received many of these awards repeatedly over time, demonstrating continuous excellence that few can match.
After graduating from Bocconi University in Milan in 1984, Paolo Basilico began his career with the IMI Group, initially as a financial analyst and then as a sales manager. A few years later, he moved to Mediobanca’s equity brokerage division.
Basilico joined Giubergia Warburg in 1991 where he served as CEO from 1992 to 1998 and was made a member of Warburg London’s European Equity Management Committee. In 1999, he co-founded the Kairos Group, a major Italian asset management company, and was the largest shareholder, Chairman and CEO until 2013 when a partnership was reached with the Julius Baer Group. Basilico has remained the Group’s Chairman and CEO.
He was a member of the Executive Committee of Assogestioni from 2009 to early 2013. Since 2005 he has been the Chairman of Oliver Twist Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to disadvantaged children in Italy.
The Julius Baer Group is one of the top private banking groups in Switzerland. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and included in the Swiss Market Index (SMI) of the 20 largest and most liquid Swiss companies.
Since 1890, Julius Baer Group Ltd. has offered a wide range of solutions and services for private clients and family offices. Based in Zurich, it has strategic branches in Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Milan, Monaco, Montevideo, Moscow, Mumbai, Singapore and Tokyo (www.juliusbaer.com).
A Best in Class alumnus of Rome’s La Sapienza University, he joined the company from Citco Fund Advisors in New York, where he worked in the 90’s. At Citco he was responsible for the research and management activity of the multi-manager business, which counted around $1Bio of AUM and offices in New York, London and Hong Kong.
Since 2000 he has been in charge of building the multi-manager business of Kairos and from 2009 to 2016 he was the General Manager of the Group.
Fabio Bariletti is Chief Executive Officer of Kairos Investment Management Limited, the London branch of the Group, specialising in managing single-manager and multi-manager alternative funds.
He is the Deputy-CEO of Kairos Investment Management Limited, the London branch of the Group, specialising in managing single-manager and multi-manager alternative funds and he is responsible for the Group International Distribution.
After obtaining a degree in Economics and Business from Rome’s La Sapienza University, he began his career in 1998 as analyst with Citco Fund Advisors in New York, a company managing multi-manager alternative funds and solutions.
In 2000 he opened Citco London office as Head of Research for European Markets and in 2002 he returned to New York to head Citco Fund Advisors.
He joined Kairos in early 2003 to open and manage the New York office of the Group, in 2006 he opened and ran the Kairos Hong Kong office and in 2008 he moved back to head the New York office. During this period he was part of the investment committee responsible for the multi-manager business. In 2012 he moved to Kairos London to run the branch of the Group and develop its Global distribution.
