In 2000, Pictet boldly launched its Water investment strategy, a pioneering approach that has since become a cornerstone of thematic investing. As we celebrate its 25th anniversary, we reflect on the journey, the successes, and the challenges faced by the team that turned a visionary idea into a sustainable investment powerhouse.
Water’s original investment team: Hans Peter Portner and Philippe Rohner, 2000.
What is the Water strategy about and how has the investment case evolved over time?
Marc-Olivier Buffle, Head of Thematic Client Portfolio Managers and Research: “We are facing a global water challenge because of increased water demand coupled with rising quality and scarcity issues. Companies proposing solutions to this challenge will see opportunities for decades to come.” The investment case for the water strategy is simple, tangible and constantly reinforced in our daily lives through media reports. It offers investors a dual aim: attractive returns while allocating capital to companies doing the right thing. This increasingly resonates with clients.
Cédric Lecamp, Senior Investment Manager: The Water investment case has not changed since 2000 and is as strong as ever. If anything, there has been a continued deterioration of water quality and availability globally due to insufficient funding. This has compounded the needs for commercial solutions provided by private actors.
Hans Peter Portner: Water was the nucleus of the development of Pictet’s thematic franchise and the blueprint for its investment process. The expertise in Water enabled us to launch a whole range of thematic investment strategies. The success of our franchise lies in the stability of the governance and the homogeneity of investment beliefs and processes. Over the last 25 years we were able to assemble and keep a very talented team working together based on mutual trust, skill, and peace of mind in Geneva.
Do you have any memorable anecdotes working on the Water strategy?
Hans Peter Portner : 20 years ago, I attended a water utility conference in Zurich. The CEOs of the two leading US water companies were present as well: let’s call them company A and company B. When I entered the hotel, I saw the CEO of company A coming out of his expensive room on site. A moment later, I spotted the CEO of company B entering the hotel and making his way to the conference. I learned by speaking with him that he had flown over to Europe in economy class and stayed in a budget hotel elsewhere in Zurich. The two companies had a completely different cost culture, and their respective CEOs were good representations of this. I’ll let you take a guess as to which one has always been my favorite US water stock…
Hans Peter Portner: Back in 2008, my colleague Philippe Rohner was in Mumbai to meet the management team of a water irrigation solutions provider in the Oberoi Hotel when terrorists attacked the hotel. Philippe was checking in when the terrorists attacked the hotel with machine guns. Philippe was able to hide behind the reception counter and survived with the help of the hotel staff…
Hans Peter Portner: On a lighter note, our sales team in Paris held an event at the Trocadéro Aquarium for the 10-year anniversary of the Water strategy. When all the guests were seated, a diver entered the aquarium swimming with the sharks, all-the-while wearing a t-shirt with my name on it. After the diver left the water tank unscratched, I moved onto the stage equipped with a towel drying my hair which was wet with a glass of water behind the stage. Some clients still believe to this day that it was me who was in the aquarium swimming with the sharks. Thematic investing can be fun!
Cédric Lecamp: One of the first companies I researched was a Swiss plumbing and sanitation company. Visiting their headquarters, the CEO at the time extolled the virtues of a new product they were launching: the shower toilet. He was so passionate about its prospects and, sensing my reticence, he directed me to the bathroom for a live demonstration! I now have one in my home and the stock has been a core holding of the strategy for the last 17 years. Two lessons I kept from that day: fundamental research sometimes requires you to look for quality in unusual places, and long-term partnerships trump short-term trading.
Marc-Olivier Buffle: Around 2009, I remember researching a Water company in Asia. On paper, it appeared legitimate. But upon visiting the site, it turned out to be completely fake. Employees seemed to have been paid to stand in front of workbenches having no idea what to do. You could still see the creases in their brand-new coveralls… Even more concerning, in the Middle East, I witnessed workers cleaning water pump parts in a large sulfuric acid vat wearing sandals. These examples show the importance of primary research.
What new areas of opportunity are you particularly excited about?
Louis Veilleux, Senior Investment Manager: I am particularly excited about all the new digital technologies that are coming to the water sector. They will allow water Utilities to have a real-time view of their network status. Technology will be a key enabler of improved water efficiency going forward.
Marc-Olivier Buffle: Automation of water utilities operation –digital twins- is taking off. The ability to detect very low concentrations of micropollutants in surface and ground waters, including antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, and forever chemicals (PFAS) have led to the need for more advanced monitoring and treatment systems. More recently, early effects of climate change are pushing corporate investment to increase resilience of their operations.
What unique skills do each team member bring to the table?
Cédric Lecamp: The overall team draws on a wealth of expertise and diversity of knowledge which we think is unique in the industry. This is critical for thematic stock picking with a long term buy and hold approach to investing. Our three advisory board members have between 25 and 40 years of experience in waste management research, international water projects, and water technologies and utilities. The founding portfolio managers Hans Peter and Philippe Rohner, though no longer involved in the day-to-day management of the strategy, are still active in Thematic Equities. Marc-Olivier, our CPM, has 28 years of water industry experience and holds a PhD in water chemistry. Amongst the current PMs, Charlie Carnegie has experience in fundamental analysis in Emerging Markets and in the small and mid-cap space. Ola Obanubi has a quantitative background, while Louis, my co-lead for the strategy, and I have 25 and 18 years of experience respectively covering water industrials and utilities.
The Water investment team at the Aquatech fair 2025. From left to right: Marc-Olivier Buffle, Advisory Board member David Stanton, Louis Veilleux, Charlie Carnegie, Cedric Lecamp and Ola Obanubi.
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You have been on Water’s Thematic Advisory Board since 2000. What are the highlights of your journey alongside the Pictet team?
David Lloyd Owen, Water Expert: Back in 1999, Pictet invited me to Geneva to discuss the case for a Water investment strategy. I was gently grilled for a couple of hours about the market, its prospects and water as an investment concept. When the strategy was launched, I first acted as a consultant, providing market data and insights. My subsequent appointment to the Water Thematic Advisory Board was a natural evolution in my collaboration with the Pictet team. While at first dominated by anecdotes and observations, the board has evolved now focusing on information, explanation, and analysis.
What key developments have you witnessed around sustainability related to the Water theme?
Hans Peter Portner: We have strived from the start to provide solutions to global water challenges. We believe that “nature has provided enough water, but not at the right location nor at the right quality.” This is why we’ve been committed to supporting the bio infrastructure of the planet to sustain demographic growth and industrialization. Today, this is known as environmental investing.
Sandy Wolf, Impact and Analytics Manager: A lot has changed over the last 25 years. While we launched the water strategy with the dual objective of generating attractive returns and allocating capital to water solution providers, the concept was far from mainstream at the time. With the advent of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing (UNPRI) in 2006, ESG became increasingly accepted among investors. Even more specifically, the UN Sustainable Development Goals were launched in 2016 and the water challenge was highlighted as a key priority with SDG6-Water and Sanitation. In parallel, our clients increasingly request more information on the impact of our strategies. This has led us to work on models that help us provide environmental and societal metrics.
