«I engineered this strategy after almost 20 years’ experience as fund manager and prop trader»

17.09.2021

Mr. Corvino, your company is not very well known north of the Gotthard. Can you say a few words about Zest?

Zest SA is an independent asset manager, regulated and licensed by FINMA to offer fund and wealth management services in Switzerland, from its offices in Lugano. Ambition, competence, passion and commitment are strong components of Zest DNA. Our team is a balanced mix of experienced professionals and young talents, driven by the same ethical values and sound principles that have driven the company since its foundation.

You manage a fund that wins prizes all the time. What do you do exactly?

I manage an equity market neutral strategy investing into US companies through a bottom-up selection process complemented by a proprietary hedging strategy based on «Dynamic Diagonal Option Spreads».

Does this give you a certain unique selling point (USP) in the market?

My strategy is quite complex because it is performed on each position (45 - 60 equally weighted positions), but it has been successful in maximizing convexity/carry and mitigating volatility and risks.

So the strategy cannot simply be copied…

I engineered this strategy after almost 20 years’ experience as fund manager and prop trader. It is a discretionary approach that blends a stock selection bottom-up approach with a strongly disciplined option overlay hedging strategy, in order to avoid any directional bias and to extract alpha. So, it cannot be standardized and relies on fund manager ability.

What are your next goals for the fund?

Fund aims at becoming one of the best known and highly appreciated products in the absolute return (market neutral) competitive arena. I want to deliver strong and consistent returns with low volatility, offering a compelling value proposition for investors skeptical about bond markets perspectives.

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