Investment Executive, Fund Solutions

About BII

British International Investment is the UK’s development finance institution, owned by the UK Government. With a mission to solve the biggest global development challenges, we aim to create a virtuous circle of investment and impact. Your contribution will be essential. 

It won’t be easy: we do the hardest work in the most complex markets. Be prepared to test your skills, get creative and say your piece as you take on high-profile work as part of a diverse team of exceptionally smart, passionate people. 

In return, you can take your career to all-new places in a culture that rewards curiosity and collaboration, and balances high performance with wellbeing.

BII at a glance

75 years supporting sustainable business growth in developing and emerging markets

£8.1 billion in net assets

1,400+ businesses invested in

950,000 workers in the businesses we support

£9 billion in new investments planned in the next 5 years

600+ people in our diverse global team

3 key development objectives: Productive | Sustainable | Inclusive

Team and role overview

• The Fund Solutions team sits within the Office of the Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) and was created in June 2023 following on from the OCIO-led review of BII’s funds’ strategy. The Funds Solutions team has a mandate covering the following:
• Manage all funds which are outside of BII’s funds strategy (as updated in HI 2023), referred to as BII’s Non-Continuing Portfolio (NCP). Currently this numbers 44 funds.
• Manage special situation-type issues within the NCP and provide support on similar issues to investment teams managing the Continuing Portfolio (CP), where such funds might ultimately transfer to Fund Solutions. This entails considering and managing options to change the GP, restructure the fund, preserve value and accelerate liquidity.
• Pursue secondary funds transactions in BII’s entire funds’ portfolio as a portfolio management tool, to crystallise returns and encourage mobilisation, as well as delivering liquidity for BII.
• Develop innovative approaches to managing BII’s tail-end funds at scale – for example via outsourcing, secondary sales or developing strategic partnerships.
• We are seeking to appoint an Investment Executive in the Funds Solutions team. Reporting to the Director and Head of Funds Solutions (“HFS” or “the Director”), the individual would support the team’s work across all aspects of its’ mandate, providing support to deal leads on secondary transactions, and on restructurings/fund interventions and co-ordinate effectively with funds team within the ITS, FSG and I&C investment groups as well as all the operational teams.
• BII’s Funds Solutions strategy focuses on:
• Managing risk to protect financial value and development impact.
• Facilitating delivery of returns, portfolio risk mitigation and mobilisation through. developing secondary sales across BII’s entire funds’ portfolio.
• Preserving and enhancing BIIs reputation and legacy.
• Supporting fund managers and our markets through difficult times.
• Being inquisitive and innovative to identify tailored solutions to complex portfolio issues particularly in respect of tail-end funds.

• BII’s Investment Teams have the following structure Associate, Executive, Manager, Director, Team Head.
• The candidate will be based in London, United Kingdom, and report to the HFS.

Responsibilities

• The role comprises fund portfolio management (including distressed situations), secondary transactions and contributing to developing Fund Solutions’ broader strategy.

Portfolio management

• Take on a monitoring role as a “second eyes” within the NCP and support the Fund Solutions team portfolio management by working closely with the Director and Fund Solutions managers to:
• Ensure effective reporting and analysis of underlying portfolio to enable appropriate decision making on the portfolio, including identifying potential issues for engagement and discussing these with the relevant “first eyes”.
• Collaborate closely with Development Impact, ESG, Business Integrity, Finance and Legal teams to ensure BII’s value and impact is safeguarded.
• Support the deal lead in their analysis of options to address BII’s LP position in distressed funds, looking to prioritise the preservation of value and impact.
• Assist in driving internal processes required to implement action plans to mitigate the risks of distressed, under-performing funds.
• Support negotiations with external stakeholders and engagement and coordination with internal stakeholders –legal, Impact Group (ESG, DI and BI) to develop objectives and priorities for restructured funds.

Transaction work

• Support the deal lead on all aspects of a secondary transaction and show willingness and capability to take responsibility on specific areas as directed.
• Have strong analytical and modelling skills to assess potential returns to BII from proposed secondary transactions; and work closely with a director/manager to assess different options/scenarios for crystallising returns for BII.

Project work

• Provide support to the entire Fund Solutions team in respect of various projects such as:
• Developing and refining the Fund Solutions strategy.
• Analysis of the Fund Solutions NCP and inputting into, and at times taking responsibility for, relevant periodic internal reporting requirements.
• Broader market research on specific themes relevant to the Fund Solutions mandate.
• Helping to prepare and present ‘lessons learned’ assessments for sharing with all BII’s funds’/operational teams.

Collaboration

• Collaborate effectively with colleagues across the various Fund investment and operational support teams to help ensure BII’s response to solving special situations challenges and/or pursuing secondary transactions is properly co-ordinated internally.

External Engagement

• Develop and maintain a network of relationships amongst LP, advisers, GPs and secondary players to assist in the execution of the Funds Solutions’ mandate.

The candidate

Building on your investment experience to date, you are eager to develop knowledge and skills that will help Fund Solutions deliver on its’ mandate through both resolving challenging investment situations for BII, as well as enhancing BII’s approach to portfolio management through working on secondary fund transactions.  This will give you ‘cradle to grave investment experience’ and by so doing boost your portfolio management knowledge and experience for BII’s benefit. You are an enthusiastic and diligent learner, with effective communication skills, able to listen to and converse with senior people and with strong project management skills.

Background, skills, aptitude

Technical skills

• Executive level with good basic understanding of fund documentation and terms and how they operate in theory and practice.
• Strong analytical skills, proficiency in financial analysis and use of Excel.
• An ability to analyse underlying investments and estimate their potential market value.
• Good presentational skills (written and verbal)
• Some market knowledge and experience of operating in Emerging Markets, and ideally in Africa and/or South Asia.

Behavioural Skills

• Patience and tenacity – resolving issues can take significant periods of time to close and resolve due to number of players involved and their differing motivations.
• Aptitude, desire and motivation to learn and apply new skills.
• Ownership – comfortable taking on responsibility and working independently once given appropriate guidance and direction.

Other skills

• Adept at networking, growing your own network and conversing with a variety of people, and in particular more senior people, from GPs, LPs etc.
• An interest and willingness in getting to grips with the detail – legal terms, tax, accounts.
• A willingness to be pro-active, and put forward ideas, suggestions and potential innovations.
• Very organised and process-driven.
• A good, collaborative cross-team worker.

British International Investment is committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation or educational background.