Alberto Gandolfi, Per Lekander & team UBS
The buy side says: “I find very useful their very close relationships with the companies they cover.”
In third place for a third year running is the seven-strong UBS squad, co-led this year by newcomer Alberto Gandolfi, 33, and Paris-based Per Lekander, 48. “They are invariably on top of the news flow, disseminate relevant information quickly, and promptly reply to inquiries and personal requests,” marvels one buy-side backer. Last February the team upgraded Britain’s Pennon Group from neutral to buy, judging the shares underpriced at 501.74p. By late December the water-and-wastewater services provider’s stock had leapt 27.6 percent, to 640p, and sailed past the sector by 30.2 percentage points. Gandolfi, who also co-heads the top-ranked team in Renewable Energy, graduated with a master’s degree from Italy’s Università Degli Studi Di Pavia in 2001. He worked as a utilities analyst at Morgan Stanley and then J.P. Morgan before moving to UBS in 2007.