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Keeping ESG commercial
ANNABEL SMITH sits down with head of trading at activist hedge fund Bluebell Capital Partners , Pete Papanichola , to explore his path to activist investing and the importance of keeping ESG investment initiatives commercial to ensure their continued success .
Pete Papanichola has had an unconventional and extensive career so far . Joining the industry after graduating from business school at the age of 20 , Papanichola has an impressive track record that spans across five hedge funds and two banks .
But running through the Brighton born and bred Papanichola ’ s veins is an activist streak that has continued to influence his decisions and shape the course of his career to date , ultimately leading him to his current role as head of trading at London-based activist hedge fund , Bluebell Capital Partners .
Papanichola began his career at interdealer broker , GFI , however quickly realised the environment wasn ’ t the one for him . “ Interesting , lucrative , fun but highly unconventional ,” he says .
He subsequently joined RBC on the graduate training programme three weeks later in 1998 , serving for a brief – and what would turn out to be his only – stint on the sell-side for three months . It was then that he moved onto the proprietary trading desk at the bank , mentored by former head trader at Moore Capital , Joe Cardello , and Jim Byrd , global head of macro trading at RBC .
“ My key takeaway from those guys was that the core foundation of trading isn ' t about buying and selling . It ' s about risk management philosophy and methodology ,” explains Papanichola . “ During that period of my training , I was actively taking positions , taking risk , fundamentally managing a portfolio of sorts in macro products .”
“ Both [ Cardello and Byrd ] were incredibly patient with me . It was a really good place to learn because they gave me so much latitude to do what I wanted . I could literally trade any product if I wanted to . When you ' re on the FX floor , it ’ s buzzy and crazy and the characters tend to be interesting . There ' s us sitting in the middle of the room trading once a day
“ When I was there we were jack of all trades , master of none , for want of a better phrase .”
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