AXA IM appoints structured finance head

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) has appointed Deborah Shire as head of structured finance. Shire replaces Laurent Gueunier, who after 12 years at AXA IM, has left the company.

Effective from 1 September and based in Paris, Shire will report to John Porter, global head of fixed income and structured finance at AXA IM.

Shire is currently global head of business development at AXA Real Estate, member of the management board of AXA Real Estate, in charge of corporate finance, investor relations, and marketing and communications.

She initially joined AXA in 1996 within the AXA Group corporate finance and treasury department and then moved to AXA IM where she was one of the founders of the structured finance team in 2000. She spent 11 years in AXA IM’s structured finance team becoming deputy head of the team.

John Porter, global head of fixed income and structured finance at AXA IM, said: “I am very pleased to be welcoming Deborah back to AXA IM’s structured finance expertise. Her role will be to work with this hugely talented team to deliver innovative investment opportunities to our clients. She will be integral in establishing structured finance as a key component of our fixed income and alternative credit proposition allowing us to address client needs and market opportunities across the credit continuum.”

Shire added: “AXA IM’s structured finance division has been a pioneer in the disintermediation of credit markets since we started it in the late 90s and today provides a length of track record across credit cycles, scale of assets under management, and a breadth and depth of expertise that are well suited to address investors needs and that few asset managers can match. I am pleased and incredibly excited to be rejoining the team and look forward to working with them all to size current market opportunity and develop this business for the benefit of our clients.”

Pierre Vaquier, CEO of AXA Real Estate, said: “Deborah played a crucial role at AXA Real Estate over the last three years in leading a solutions-led approach through our clients' relationships and product development and in driving capital raising efforts globally with €6.5 billion raised in 2013, half from outside of Europe. AXA Real Estate’s management board join me to express our warmest thanks to Deborah for the work achieved, and wish her every success in her new role.”