Guy Fraser-Sampson originally qualified as a lawyer and became an equity partner in a City of London law firm at the age of 26, having already been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. In 1986 he left the law and has since gained nearly twenty-five years' experience in the investment arena, particularly in the  fields of private equity funds, investment strategy and asset allocation.

He is perhaps best known for having set up and run for several years the European operations of US fund of funds manager Horsley Bridge. Previously he lived and worked in the Middle East as Investment Controller with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority ("ADIA"). ADIA is generally acknowledged to be the largest investor in the world.

In recent years Guy has developed his abiding interest in investment strategy, portfolio theory and asset allocation, and become recognised as an expert and thought leader in the area, particularly in so far as pension funds are concerned. He has also become an expert on so-called alternative assets generally, and has written and lectured widely on how these might be accommodated into Multi Asset Class products and portfolios.

He is the inventor of the Total Funding Model, by which pension funds may calculate their future liabilities and target rate of return. He has also invented a new way of calculating investment risk which remedies many of the  deficiencies of the traditional method. He has previously been responsible for developing many computer models for measuring private equity fund performance, including one specifically for buyout transactions.

He has recently become a visiting Professor at the National Academy of Economics in Moscow and also carries out various other visting lecturing and teaching activities in addition to his regular modules at Cass Business School in both London and Dubai on Private Equity and Investment Strategy,  which includes full coverage of all "alternative" assets such as hedge funds, real estate, energy, commodities, currency, infrastructure, etc.

Guy is well known as a conference chairman and as a provider of keynote addresses. He is also a prolific writer, supplying articles for every one of Europe's English language pension publications as well as numerous hedge fund and other investment titles, including his influential monthly column in Real Deals, which is read by the private equity community worldwide.

Guy is the author of two books: Multi Asset Class Investment Strategy and Private Equity as an asset class, both published as part of the prestigious Wiley Finance series, and both featured on this website.

Multi Asset Class Investment Strategy was published in July 2006 to what Global Pensions described as "rave reviews from within the UK pension industry" and went into the Amazon "Hot 100" after just six weeks. The Daily Telegraph noted that "the tectonic plates are shifting under the British investment establishment" while one reviewer said simply "there are some books you read that change the way you think - this is one of them."

Private Equity as an asset class was published in February 2007 and went straight into the Amazon best-seller list, where it has stayed ever since, being adopted as a recommended book by business schools worldwide and selling over ten thousand copies in its English language edition alone. One private equity publication described it as "a masterpiece by the acknowledged expert in the field". The Chairman of the European Venture Capital Association said that it "shines a torch of clarity into some dimly lit areas of private equity theory and practice".

In addition to various professional qualifications, Guy has an LLB with Honours from King's College London and an MBA majoring in finance from Warwick Business School. He teaches at Cass Business School in the City of London,  the National Academy of Economics in Moscow, and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Pensions.

A new edition of Private Equity as an asset class will be published in April 2010. Guy is currently working on two more finance books, one of which, Investing in Alternative Assets (working title) will be published in January 2011 as part of the Wiley Finance series.

Guy is available to conduct consultancy and training assignments around the world on investment strategy, asset allocation, alternative investments, fund products and private equity. In particular, he can conduct internal versions of his public workshops. He is also available as a speaker at conferences or client events, both for keynote addresses and after-dinner speeches. Click here for a list of current and recent clients, and here for contact details.