After holding the CEO post since October 2023, Elmar Zumbuehl is stepping away from the job at GAM Holding, with a new successor named. The past 21 months have seen considerable change at the Swiss-listed group as it recovers from a difficult period.

Yesterday, Zurich-listed GAM Holding, parent of GAM Investments, said it has named one of its own senior figures, Albert Saporta (main picture), as new group CEO. He is succeeding Elmar Zumbuehl, who took up the post in October 2023 in the wake of a turbulent period for GAM.

Saporta will be taking up the post on 1 July; Zumbuehl (pictured below) will remain with GAM until the end of this year to support the handover. Tim Rainsford is returning to the firm to head up its distribution efforts as group distribution officer on 1 October, GAM said in a statement yesterday. 

Elmar Zumbuehl

With more than 30 years in the hedge fund industry, Saporta started his career at Paribas in Paris and joined Merrill Lynch in London in its Japanese equity sales area from 1985 to 1988. In 1988, he joined UBS Securities in London. Three years later, Saporta joined IFM, a hedge fund owned by Jacob Rothschild’s St James’s Place and AIG. In 1995. Saporta set up Geneva-based AIM&R – a hedge fund advisory and research firm. In March 2006, he sold AIM&R‘s research and hedge fund businesses to ABN Amro Bank (London). AIM&R was relaunched in 2011 as a research and trading advisory firm, advising global hedge funds, pension funds, property trading firms and family offices.

“These leadership changes reflect that GAM has successfully transformed and is now well positioned for growth,” GAM said.

Big changes 
During Zumbuehl’s CEO tenure, GAM has gone through a major shakeup: It has divested several non-core firms and created a “lean, scalable platform."

Zumbuehl was made CEO after a bid launched earlier in 2023 by Liontrust Asset Management to buy it fell through. Late in September that year, one of the investor groups pushing to take over GAM Holding said it intended to provide the asset manager with a blend of short- and long-term funding up to an increased total of SFr100 million ($1.09 million). The funding announcement came from Rock Investment SAS ("Rock"), a member of the investor group NewGAMe – made up of Newgame SA and Bruellan SA – which controls about 9.6 per cent of GAM’s issued share capital.

"On behalf of the board of directors, I would like to express our deepest gratitude to Elmar for his dedicated service and the significant achievements he has accomplished during his many years at GAM. His leadership has been pivotal in steering the company through transformative changes and setting a solid foundation for future sustainable growth,” chairman of the board, Antoine Spillmann, said.

Saporta, who has more than 40 years of experience in the investment management industry, has served as global head of investments and products at GAM since October 2023. 

Rainsford was previously CEO of Generali Investments Partners, and latterly, chief product and distribution officer for Generali Asset Management. 

Rossen Djounov, global head of client solutions, will remain as a senior member of the distribution leadership team, reporting to Rainsford.