IRELAND – Germany’s proposed legislation on hedge funds of funds has led Pioneer Investments to bolster its alternative investment sales team for Germany and Austria.

Matthias Schellenberg joins Pioneer as head of alternative investment sales for the two markets. He will initially focus on product development and marketing to ensure the company is well positioned to benefit from the anticipated increase in demand for absolute return products amongst German investors.

The role was created in response to the proposed legislation that should see funds of hedge funds registered and sold in Germany. Pioneer Investments intends to register appropriate hedge fund products in Germany assuming legislation permits.

Prior to joining Pioneer, Schellenberg was at Zurich Capital Markets in London, where he was responsible for structuring and marketing hedge funds for German-speaking Europe.

Pioneer Alternative Investments has over 1.8 billion euros in assets under management. It belongs to the Pioneer Global Asset Management group of companies which form the asset management arm of Unicredito Italiano.