Sustainable fund advisor Mirova US gets new CEO

Zineb Bennani has worked for parent firm Natixis since 2005.

Natixis Investment Managers’ sustainable finance subsidiary Mirova has appointed a new chief executive for its U.S. business, the firm announced late last week.

Zineb Bennani, who is currently based in Paris as the chief operating and development officer of Mirova, will take over as CEO of the $8.4 billion-asset U.S. unit in May. Bennani, who has worked for Natixis since 2005, is assuming the leadership role from interim CEO Ritesh Shah. As part of that change, Bennani will also serve as global head of business development at Mirova.

In December, Mirova U.S. chief investment officer Jens Peers, who had served as CEO in addition to holding the CIO position, began focusing on the investment role. With Bennani taking the lead of the U.S. business, Shah will become Mirova’s global head of corporate development.

Bennani’s appointment “will bolster the next phase of growth for Mirova’s U.S. operations and further enhance its client experience,” the firm said in the announcement.

The U.S. subsidiary of Mirova opened its doors in 2017 and currently has a staff of more than 25. Part of the wider company’s growth plan for the next decade includes a focus on the U.S., as “the American markets are key in raising assets under management for the global equities strategy, the expansion of impact investing, and the development of the private assets offer,” the firm stated.

Previously, Bennani was a member of several industry groups, including the corporate governance commission of the French Asset Management Association, the business ethics committee of the International Corporate Governance Network and the French Institute of Directors, according to Mirova.

In the new role, Bennani will continue reporting to Mirova Deputy CEO Guillaume Abel.

Currently, Mirova is the investment advisor on four branded U.S. mutual funds: the Mirova US Sustainable Equity, International Sustainable Equity, Global Green Bond and Global Sustainable Equity funds. Those four funds represented about $940 million in assets as of the end of February, according to data from Morningstar Direct. Year to date as of March 22, the funds had seen more than $12 million in net inflows.

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