Dedicated Mandates

Appointing a manager is a decision you will have to defend for years. This is the evidence trail for it.

A dedicated fund or a segregated mandate needs a portfolio manager, and the requirement does not match anything on an existing product shelf. Several candidates look credible and no two of them present their case the same way. The appointment will be reviewed by people who were not in the room.

Dedicated Mandates runs that search: guidelines first, then a structured comparison of candidates on the same terms, operational evidence alongside the investment case, and documentation that still explains the choice long after it was made. Where Fund Research & Selection works within an existing universe, this starts from your requirement and goes looking.

• Investment guidelines defined before the search begins, because a search without them compares candidates against nothing.
• Request-for-proposal preparation and support, so answers arrive in a form that can actually be compared.
• Quantitative and qualitative screening of candidate managers on consistent criteria.
• Operational due diligence run alongside the investment assessment, not after the choice is effectively made.
• A Manager Selection Memo and operational review summary recording the basis for the appointment — including what was not resolved.
• An ongoing monitoring pack, so the appointment stays examined rather than assumed.

The scope covers the selection and the research behind implementation. The appointment itself, and its implementation, stay inside your governance.

• The investment guidelines are specific enough that no existing fund fits them.
• Candidate managers must be compared on a consistent basis rather than on whoever presented best.
• The appointment needs both investment and operational evidence to stand behind it.
• A delegated structure is being considered and the selection has to withstand later review.

Built for Swiss professional users considering a delegated solution. For selection inside an existing fund universe, see Fund Research & Selection; portfolio construction and continuing allocation review are covered under Portfolio Advisory.

We define the guidelines and evaluation criteria with you, prepare the search and the request for proposal, and screen candidates on quantitative and qualitative grounds. Operational due diligence is then set beside the investment assessment before the rationale and the open points are written down. Monitoring continues the same evidence trail after appointment, so a manager review years later starts from something.

The manager-selection conclusion is governed by the WS Partners methodology. Merit-based selection remains separate from commercial relationships. A commercial relationship cannot secure an appointment, change a due diligence conclusion or determine a selection status.

• It does not appoint the manager. The decision, the contract and the implementation are yours.
• It does not run the selection to a predetermined shortlist. If no candidate meets the guidelines, that is the finding.
• It does not replace your own legal and contractual review of the appointment.
• These outputs support professional documentation and decision processes. They do not constitute an offer or solicitation, and are intended for qualified investors and professional users in Switzerland.

Send the objectives, the constraints and the governance requirements. We will make the selection scope and the expected documentation explicit before anything starts.