Corporate Profile

The company

ELIA Investment Advisors is a licensed investment management company, based in Zurich, Switzerland. It was founded in 2019 by a team of financial industry specialists with extensive experience in covering the investment needs of an ultra wealthy clientele at top tier international financial institutions.

Prior to setting up the firm, the team members had worked together for more than 10 years and eventually joined forces sharing the same vision about how wealth management should be conducted.

ELIA Investment Advisors elevates private wealth management to a truly
institutional level without compromising on investment flexibility and the ability to develop bespoke investment solutions, by tapping all available markets and instruments. A personalized client profiling process, highly responsive and engaging team along with a fully aligned compensation model, supplement our innovative investment approach and build the pillars for a transparent, honest and successful longer term relationship.

Vision

The Vision

Having served ultra-wealthy families and individuals throughout our tenure in two of the most prominent investment banks in the world, we came together with the aim to bring our vision to life.

A vision that happened also to be a key need of many investors,which is exactly what ELIA Investment Advisors is offering: Investing. As it should be.

Our innovative and customised investment approach aims to break in the mainstream wealth management industry. ELIA Investment Advisors arose as the solution to this exact need: an unconflicted, active, fully bespoke, and institutionalised approach for UHNW families and individuals.

The investment world has been changing constantly with incredible speed, especially over the last years. Wide adoption of new technologies and channels of communication, along with the introduction of new investment
instruments require professional agility and the need to be ahead of developments.

Throughout our professional lives we have been keen advocates of an active and adaptive approach – lifelong learning, out of consensus thinking, constant search for something better, something different, digging deep into the roots and causes of things, and developing action plans not only to adapt but also benefit from the changes around us.

Investing is a constant search for opportunities. But always well thought, analyzed and implemented through the use of the most suitable instruments and strategies.

All in all, we have devoted our lives to make investing as it should be; and ELIA Investment Advisors is the realization of this commitment.

Our CEO

Christos Kontos CFA, FRM

Christos Kontos CFA, FRM

Founding Partner & CEO

Christos Kontos CFA, FRM

Founding Partner & CEO

Prior to setting up ELIA Investment Advisors, Christos worked as an Executive Director at the Wealth Management divisions of Goldman Sachs (2014 – 2019) and Morgan Stanley (2007 – 2014), offering an institutional approach to private client investing. Before entering the world of the two large Investment Banks, Christos served as a Senior Associate for Swiss Capital Alternative Investments (currently StepStone Global), a Hedge Fund company based in Zurich, dealing with the design of specialised investment solutions for pension funds and insurance companies. Prior to moving to Switzerland in 2005, he worked in the Fixed Income Derivatives department of Intesa San Paolo IMI in Milan, and Equity Trading at NBG Securities and Alpha Bank in Greece.

Christos is a holder of the Certificate of Business Excellence from Columbia Business School in New York and holds an MBA from SDA Bocconi in Milan, an MSc in Finance from Strathclyde University in Glasgow and a BSc from Athens University of Economics and Business. He is a certified risk manager (FRM) by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Advisory Board

Our advisory board is a select group of experts consisting of executives with experience in top tier global institutions such as silicon-valley technology powerhouse, international pharma and luxury goods company, as well as renowned writers and researchers.  

A rich pool of knowledge, thought and experience that help us comprehend and navigate a rapidly changing world and optimise our investment positioning in it by providing us with first-hand insights into key industries and areas that define the global economic landscape.

GEOGRAPHIC INSIGHT

  • USA – EUROPE – ASIA

INDUSTRY EXPERTISE

Energy

Transition to a decarbonised world. Opportunities and threats. New forms of energy exploration, transmission and usage.

Information Technology

From Cloud to Cybesecurity. From Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to a META world. Data as the driving force behind a new economic revolution.

Monetary Policies

Modern Monetary Theory and its implications for money supply, economic growth and inflation equilibrium. Central Banks as market makers in a globalised nexus of financial participants.

Business Automation

Robotics and the path to a fully digitalised and automated world. Role of supply chain and distributed ledgers in the new business order.

Consumer Discretionary

Continuously changing consumer habits to reflect generational and demographic shifts. Glocal or global, massive retail or targeted niches, brand creation and expansion has got a new digitalised and data driven form of development and expansion.

Healthcare

Genomics and the quest for DNA decoding and control. MedTech as the incubator for many innovative treatments and unique approaches to medicine that are bound to change our lives.

Eveline Bieler

Independent Advisor to the Board

Eveline is an Independent Advisor to the Board on multiple corporate topics. Eveline brings an extensive experience in supporting wealthy families in their banking and wealth management matters. Prior to joining ELIA Investment Advisors, Eveline had worked for 10 year at key client desks of UBS, Bank Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in Zurich, and has also spent two years in Hong Kong as an Analyst for a Boutique Financial Advisory, Private Equity & Risk Management Firm. Eveline holds a specialist certificate in Asset Management from Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute and has completed a Master’s Degree in Financial Consulting and the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) programme at Zurich University of Applied Sciences.

James Bejjani

Senior Partner

James has over 17 years of experience in Portfolio Management and Special Situations in the United States, Europe and the GCC. His areas of expertise span across a range of asset classes including Private Equity and Venture Capital. Prior to joining ELIA Investment Advisors James Bejjani served as Director of a large Geneva based multifamily office, and member of its Investment Committee. Earlier, James had spent eight years at M1 Group, a Single Family Office, where he was a Portfolio Manager. In that role he led M1’s Fixed Income investment activities in public (credit and capital structure investing) and private companies in both Developed and Emerging markets. Before that, he worked at Macquarie Funds Group where he had dual responsibility as a Trader and Analyst for a multi-billion dollar Fixed Income portfolio for institutional clients. He was also previously an Associate Director and an Institutional Investor ranked Strategist at UBS Investment Bank in New York. He began his career on Wall Street at Mortgage Industry Advisory Corporation (as a Quantitative Analyst). 

James earned his MS in Financial Mathematics from Warwick Business School in the UK, his BA in Economics and minor in Mathematics from the American University of Beirut and his double LLB degree in Private and Public Law from Saint Joseph University. He also completed an executive program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, James is a member of the NY based Fixed Income Analysts Society.

Anton Schmidt

Managing Partner

Anton has spent over a decade covering UHNW families and individuals. He dedicated his professional career to providing tailor-made and differentiated investment advice across major asset classes and whole range of financial instruments. Most recently as an Executive Director and Private Wealth Advisor in the Private Wealth Management division of Goldman Sachs in Zurich after joining from Morgan Stanley in 2012, where he started as an analyst in 2010. His prior professional experience includes Bloomberg in London and Volkswagen in Wolfsburg.

Anton holds a Business Administration Diploma (MSc) with specialisation in Banking & Finance from Mannheim University, Germany and a Postgraduate Certificate in Finance from London School of Business and Finance, UK.

Christos Kontos CFA, FRM

Founding Partner & CEO

Prior to setting up ELIA Investment Advisors, Christos worked as an Executive Director at the Wealth Management divisions of Goldman Sachs (2014 – 2019) and Morgan Stanley (2007 – 2014), offering an institutional approach to private client investing. Before entering the world of the two large Investment Banks, Christos served as a Senior Associate for Swiss Capital Alternative Investments (currently StepStone Global), a Hedge Fund company based in Zurich, dealing with the design of specialised investment solutions for pension funds and insurance companies. Prior to moving to Switzerland in 2005, he worked in the Fixed Income Derivatives department of Intesa San Paolo IMI in Milan, and Equity Trading at NBG Securities and Alpha Bank in Greece.

Christos is a holder of the Certificate of Business Excellence from Columbia Business School in New York and holds an MBA from SDA Bocconi in Milan, an MSc in Finance from Strathclyde University in Glasgow and a BSc from Athens University of Economics and Business. He is a certified risk manager (FRM) by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.