Amati Global Investors
The Team

Dr Paul Jourdan

CEO

Dr Paul Jourdan co-founded Amati Global Investors following the management buyout of Noble Fund Managers from Noble Group in January 2010, having joined Noble in 2007 as Head of Equities. His fund management career began in 1998 with Stewart Ivory, where he gained experience in UK, emerging market, and global equities. In 2000, Stewart Ivory was taken over by First State and Paul became manager of what is now WS Amati UK Smaller Companies Fund. In 2004, he was appointed Head of UK Equities at First State. In early 2005, he launched Amati VCT plc and he also manages Amati VCT 2 after the investment management contract moved to Amati Global Investors in 2010 (In 2018 Amati VCT merged into Amati VCT 2 which was then renamed Amati AIM VCT). Prior to 1998, Paul worked as a professional violinist, including a four-year period with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He serves as a trustee of Clean Trade, a charity registered in England and Wales.

David Stevenson

Director

David joined Amati in 2012. In 2005 he was a co-founding partner of investment boutique Cartesian Capital, which managed a range of retail and institutional UK equity funds in long only and long/short strategies. Prior to that he was Assistant Director at SVM, where he also managed equity products including the UK Opportunities small/midcap fund which was ranked top decile for the 5 year period from inception to 2005. David started his career at KPMG where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He latterly specialised in corporate finance, before moving into private equity with Dunedin Fund Managers. David has co-managed the WS Amati UK Smaller Companies Fund, Amati AIM VCT since 2012 and the Amati AIM IHT Portfolio Service since 2014.

Scott McKenzie

Fund Manager

Scott joined Amati in April 2021 and has over 25 years experience managing UK equity portfolios. His career began in Glasgow at Britannia IM in the early 90’s before moving to London with Aviva Investors in 1999. He returned to Scotland in 2005, joining Martin Currie where he remained until 2009. After a period running his own private businesses, he joined Saracen Fund Managers in 2014 where he launched the TB Saracen UK Income fund and also became manager of the TB Saracen UK Alpha fund. He left Saracen in March 2021 having led both funds to top quartile rankings in their sectors.

Scott’s interests include supporting PartickThistle, playing five a side football slowly and walking his cocker spaniel. He still dreams of being a guitar hero but may well have left it too late.

Dr Gareth Blades

Analyst

Dr Gareth Blades joined Amati in 2019 as an Analyst supporting the fund management team. Prior to Amati, Gareth worked as an independent consultant supporting early stage life science companies in their operational and strategic decision making. In 2016 he worked for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh building and spinning-out therapeutic, med-tech, diagnostic and e-health companies. In 2015, Gareth worked in healthcare corporate finance at PharmaVentures in Oxford. During his time at PharmaVentures he delivered expert reports, business development, licensing and due diligence projects for international clients. Prior to this he worked for White Space Strategy in Oxford, a leading market analysis and strategy consultancy serving financial services, TMT, manufacturing, energy and public sector clients. Gareth has a DPhil in Systems Biology - Biochemistry from the University of Oxford, an MPhil in Micro and Nanotechnology Enterprise from the University of Cambridge and a first in Neuroscience from Cardiff University.

Graeme Bencke

Fund Manager

Graeme Bencke joined Amati in May 2022 as a Fund Manager for the WS Amati Global Innovation Fund. Graeme began his career as an equity analyst at F&C Investments before going on to manage the European Smaller Companies fund for 5 years. He then spent 12 years with AIG (later renamed PineBridge Investments) where he led the European and then Global equity teams, combining this with his role as Equity Strategist for the Group. Graeme has always managed concentrated, high conviction equity portfolios from across the full market cap spectrum, and with a focus on strong businesses with longer term growth potential. His interest in innovation extends beyond the fund through his non-executive role at Torvius where he helps to mentor start-up companies. Graeme holds a first-class BSc in Business Management from Royal Holloway University of London and is an associate member of the Society of Investment Professionals (ASIP).

Mikhail Zverev

Fund Manager

Mikhail Zverev joined Amati in February 2022 as a fund manager to work on WS Amati Global Innovation Fund.

Between 2007 and 2021 Mikhail managed high conviction global funds and ran global equities teams at Standard Life Investments (now Abrdn) and Aviva Investors.

Mikhail started his career in finance in 1998 with boutique investment bank Trigon Capital, helping to raise growth capital for Eastern European technology companies. Following a spell with Citigroup, where he was a Mergers & Acquisitions analyst, he joined First State Investments as a Senior Equity Analyst, working alongside Paul Jourdan on the FSI British Smaller Companies Fund and FSI AIM VCT.

Mikhail holds BSc in Semiconductor Physics from St Petersburg State Technical University and MSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics.

Georges Lequime

Fund Manager

Georges Lequime joined Amati in March 2021 as a Fund Manager for the WS Amati Strategic Metals Fund. Since 2008, Georges was formerly a partner at the Earth Resource Investment Group and fund adviser of the award-winning Earth Gold Fund UI, a pure precious metals fund offering exposure to precious metals stocks and the underlying metals. Prior to this he headed up equity research at RBC Capital Markets in London for five years, having moved there from New York where he managed the North American region for HSBC Global mining. Georges is a mining engineer by qualification, and after gaining practical experience in the gold and coal mining industries with Anglo American, he went on to manage the largest gold fund in South Africa, the Old Mutual Gold Fund for four years. Georges holds a BSc in Mining Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and studied economics at UNISA (University of South Africa), he also holds the Mine Manager’s certificate in both open pit and underground mining.

Mark Smith

Fund Manager

Mark Smith joined Amati in March 2021 as a Fund Manager for the WS Amati Strategic Metals Fund. Since 2010, Mark has been a partner at the Earth Resource Investment Group and a mining analyst on the award-winning Earth Gold Fund UI, a pure precious metals fund offering exposure to precious metals stocks and the underlying metals. Previously he has worked as a resource equity analyst at RBC Capital Markets and with the African mining research team at Renaissance Capital. A geologist by qualification, he worked for four years in gold exploration prior to completion of his Masters in mineral project appraisal from the Royal School of Mines, University of London. Mark also holds a BSc. (Hons) 1st Class from the University of Bristol. His experience has enabled him to develop a substantial network in Africa, Europe, and North America.

Inez Ling

Research Associate

Inez joined Amati in August 2022, working closely with the Investment Team offering support and conducting research into the integration of ESG considerations into the investment process. Previously Inez held roles in Stewart Investors and First State Investments, gaining experience in Operations, Marketing, Direct Corporate Access and ESG reporting. Inez holds the CFA Investment Management Certificate (IMC) and the IAQ from the Securities & Investment Institute and is currently working towards the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing.