The Schwartz family office-backed firm has appointed a head of investor relations (ex-Australia) and partner as it expands into Europe.

Maria Llanes will be based in Switzerland and joins from distribution firm Tiffons Global Partners where she was managing partner and responsible for representing the Stonehorn Asia Equity Fund in Europe.

Prior to this, Llanes worked in sales at Zurich-based private-debt manager Ruvercap and spent over two years in institutional sales at Macquarie Bank where she met the Stonehorn investment team.

Stonehorn was founded by former Macquarie Asian listed equities co-head executive director and head of investments Sam Le Cornu and former Macquarie managing director and portfolio manager Duke Lo along with senior analyst John Lam.

The Stonehorn Asia Equity Fund launched in June 2019 and invests in up to 30 Asian stocks (ex-Japan) and is not limited to a benchmark, sector, country, or market-cap.

The fund has returned over 55% in a one-year period.

The Schwartz family office, Trawalla Group is a significant investor in the fund and has a stake in the wider business.