The Billion Dollar Interview:
Davide Basile, Partner/Head of Convertible Bonds of RWC Partners
Eurekahedge
June 2011
Davide joined RWC Partners in January 2010. He was previously head of convertible bonds and lead portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management where he managed a range of pooled and institutional convertible accounts including the Morgan Stanley Convertible Bond fund. Davide worked at Morgan Stanley for nine years, working in both the investment management and private wealth management divisions. Prior to this, Davide worked in the telecoms industry.
Eurekahedge: What were you doing before RWC and what were your motivations behind moving to RWC?
David Basile: Prior to joining RWC, I was with Morgan Stanley managing convertible funds at Morgan Stanley asset management. I had first joined Morgan Stanley in April 2001. I had been there quite a long time and was managing convertibles, or involved in the management of convertibles from around the beginning of 2003. Pretty much my whole career I have been involved with the convertible asset class. At the end of October 2005, I took over as head of the team at Morgan Stanley.
I decided to join RWC because it was a firm which was solely focused on the asset management part of the business whereas within an institution, as you are very well aware, there are different parts of the business. I wanted to focus just on the convertible asset class and the asset management side. RWC for me was a perfect fit because that’s the sole focus of the firm – looking at different strategies for asset management and being able to just focus on that for me was a great opportunity.
