PiRho Investment Consulting Ltd offers bespoke investment advice to institutional clients. We aim to make investment ‘as simple as possible – but not simpler’: we try to avoid complexity in portfolio structures and products – especially when it is hidden – but ultra ‘simple’ approaches such as portfolios of just equities and bonds can also be inappropriate as they may be poorly suited to clients’ objectives and highly volatile. Traditional asset class definitions are increasingly less relevant as mainstream managers often deploy ‘hedge fund’ type strategies, while many hedge fund managers offer long-only products; our expertise in absolute return, liability-driven or at least ‘liability aware’ solutions is thus of particular value.
We can help trustees, boards and investment committees to understand the implications of their current strategies, frame appropriate return objectives and risk constraints, and put in place strategies and products to achieve their objectives. We can also advise on specific issues such as the appointment of a fiduciary manager for all or part of a fund, and undertake manager reviews or selections for specific asset classes.
PiRho was launched as an independent, wholly owned company by Phil Irvine and Nicola Ralston in September 2008. Since then PiRho has given bespoke advice on assets of £1.5bn to pension funds, insurance companies, banks, endowments and investment companies, on a variety of strategies and portfolio structures, including fiduciary management, diversified growth funds, hedge funds, other absolute return mandates, Liability Driven Investments and specialist equity portfolios.
Key Staff
Contact Nicola
Direct: +44 (0)20 7399 3341
Mobile: +44 (0)7770 496 396
Email: nicola.ralston@pirho-ic.com
Nicola Ralston
Nicola is a director of PiRho Investment Consulting which she co-founded with colleague Phil Irvine. She has over thirty years investment experience as an analyst, portfolio manager and investment consultant and featured in Dow Jones Europe/Financial News' "Veterans of Finance" list in 2009. She is now a director and co-founder of PiRho Investment Consulting. Nicola spent over 20 years at Schroders, where her roles included managing the UK institutional business and Head of Investment for the Group. She was subsequently Head of Global Investment Consulting at Hewitt, and then a director of Liability Solutions. Nicola is a Fellow of CFA UK, a former Chair of CFA UK and was a Governor of CFA Institute between 2003 and 2009. She is also a director of the Edinburgh Investment Trust, and a member of the FTSE Policy Committee. She has a first class honours degree in Modern History from Somerville College, Oxford and is an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College.
Contact Phil
Direct: +44 (0)20 7399 3340
Mobile: +44 (0)7939 013 379
Email: phil.irvine@pirho-ic.com
Phil Irvine
Phil is a director of PiRho Investment Consulting which he co-founded with colleague Nicola Ralston. Between 2003 and 2008 he was Director of Advisory Services at Liability Solutions, and he headed the consultancy business assisting institutions on absolute return strategies. Phil was previously Chief Investment Officer for TriAlpha (the offshore investment arm for South African bank, ABSA), where he had responsibility for long-only as well as hedge fund products, which he joined in 1999. Prior to TriAlpha, Phil spent 15 years at the UK Life Assurance company, Colonial Mutual, where he was CIO. In 2009 he chaired the Hedge Fund Review’s award for European Fund of Hedge Funds for the sixth year. Phil graduated from London School of Economics with a 2:1(Hons) degree in Economics.