User:FrancoisB29/E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers

E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers is a Swiss private bank founded in 1886. It is one of the founding members of the Swiss Private Banks Association. E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers specializes in asset management and investment counseling for private clients. It is located in Basel, Geneva and Zürich, Switzerland.

Foundation
In 1886, Carl Gutzwiller founded the bank in Basel, Switzerland. The history of E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers is closely linked to Carl Gutzwiller, his descendants and their partners. They contributed to the establishment of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel in 1930. With the help of their employees, they developed the bank throughout wars and major economic changes, while keeping a strict ethical standard. In 1928, the bank moved to Kaufhausgasse 7, Basel, where the headquarters are still located.

Evolution
The Bank began in 1886 as a trade business. Then, Carl Gutzwiller's son, Ernest, developed a significative investment banking activity in Paris, which was finally sold in 1984, a few years after Ernest's death. The third generation of Gutzwiller descendants decided to operate a shift to wealth management by opening to third-parties services that were exclusively accessible to family offices. In the 1990’s, the bank chooses to focus on wealth management activities.

Milestones
The year of the Bank’s creation (1886), Carl Gutzwiller was one of the founding members of the Basel Stock Exchange. In 1995, the entity is replaced by the fully-automated SIX Group (Swiss Exchange and Security Services). Today, E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers remains one of its shareholders.

In 1930, in conjunction with other European banks, E. Gutzwiller & Cie co-founded the Société Internationale de Placements, the first investment fund management company in Europe. In 1957, it co-founded Union-Investment-Gesellschaft m.b.H., Frankfurt, one of Germany’s largest investment funds management companies with funds such as Unifonds and Unirenta. Two years later, it was launching Eurofund, the first European closed-end fund listed in the US.

E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers expanded across Switzerland by founding Gutzwiller Kurz Bungener SA in Geneva (1968), later called Gutzwiller SA, Geneva. More recently, it has opened another office in Zürich (2004).

In 1972, E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers founded Cecogest, a macro-economic research firm, and broadened their activities by launching Bourcart AG, an accounting firm, two years later.

Following a diversification strategy begun in the 1970’s, the partners of the bank created Gutzwiller Fonds Management AG in Basel in 2001, and launched Gutzwiller ONE, a US equities long-only fund. Following the success of the structure, it launched Gutzwiller TWO, an event-driven fund of hedge funds, a year later.

Gutzwiller Funds
Gutzwiller Funds manages 5 open-ended funds and provides services for in-house funds of E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers. Each fund has its own mandate, but all share a long-term absolute-return focus.
 * Gutzwiller ONE focuses on quality U.S. common stock at discounted value, avoiding market excesses. With its objective to reflect the qualitative and conservative approach of E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers, the fund has won several Sauren Golden Awards for consecutive years  because of its independent long-term investment strategy. It seeks quality assets at cyclical-distressed valuations.
 * Gutzwiller TWO is an event-driven fund of hedge funds with an umbrella structure. It is a fund of funds focused on merger arbitrage, distressed securities and special situations. Like the other funds of Gutzwiller Funds, it has a long-term view and seeks positive, absolute return. Its multi-event strategy covers:
 * Merger arbitrage (mergers, acquisitions, hostile offers, leverage buy-outs)
 * Distressed securities (distressed, chapter 11, chapter 7 (liquidation))
 * Special situation : Management change (shareholder activism, industry consolidation, clarification of operations, strategic change, shareholder turnover) and Spin-offs (reorganizations, proxy contests, litigation, short sales)
 * There are also EG Swiss Equities, EG European Equities, EG Global Equities.