Carmignac has appointed Jean-François Louvrier from rival Pictet as a portfolio manager to bolster its long- short equities expertise.

Carmignac said in a statement on 12 May it has almost 20 years' experience within long-short equity strategies and this space had become a cornerstone of its investment focus, notably with Carmignac Portfolio Long Short European Equities. 

Jean-François Louvrier joins Carmignac from Pictet Asset Management, where he had been portfolio manager of a global long-short equities portfolio since 2015.

He has more than 15 years of experience in global long-short equities. He started his career at PWC and then McKinsey & Company. Jean-François graduated with a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago. Jean-François is based in London and reports to David Older, head of equities.

Jean-François Louvrier will be running an Article 8 global equity market neutral fund which will integrate environmental and social criteria within the investment process.

In line with what Carmignac describes as its careful stance and risk management credentials, this fund will first be placed in the "LAB". Launched by Maxime Carmignac in 2014, the LAB has been created to foster the fund range diversification effort by nurturing new strategies before making them available to clients.

David Older, head of equities at Carmignac, said: "We are very pleased to have Jean-François joining us. His successful experience implementing long-short equity strategies and knowledge of certain cyclical sectors is an important addition to our alternative investments franchise, which has been gaining traction with our clients over the years."