Fund Times: 2 - 6 November
J.P. Morgan continues its fixed-income expansion efforts; JOHIM closes Waverton Continental European Fund; BNY Mellon completes Insight acquisition; Martin Currie bolsters global equity resources; SWIP hires fixed income director; Woolley replaces Kary as Polar Capital CEO; Morningstar qualitative ratings and reports issued this week.
J.P. Morgan continues its fixed-income expansion efforts
J.P. Morgan Asset Management announced three new hires within its emerging markets debt team this week. This follows the recent appointment of ex-Fortis manager Pierre-Yves Bareau as head of emerging market debt last month. Bareau has now been joined by three of his ex-Fortis colleagues, Didier Lambert, Alain Defise and Michall Woznik. The trio have an average 15 years experience in emerging market debt. Lambert had been at Fortis for ten years and was deputy CIO for emerging markets fixed income. He ran the Fortis L Bond World Emerging Local fund from its launch in May 2006 and delivered competitive returns. The fund generated 15.2% per year annualised over the last three years compared with 11.3% for its average peer in the Morningstar Emerging Markets Bond category. Defise was a corporate credit specialist and Wozniak maintained a focus on Central and Eastern Europe. Wozniank spent a brief two-year stint at Fortis and, prior to that, he was at Credit Suisse Asset Management (Poland) as head of fixed-income. The appointment of Bob Michele as Global CIO for fixed income in September 2008 has been followed by a number of fund launches and new hires and reflects the firm’s commitment to expand in the fixed-income arena.
JOHIM closes Waverton Continental European Fund
JO Hambro Investment Management has this week announced closure of the Waverton Continental European fund. The management of the fund was outsourced to Stuart Mitchell who worked for the firm between 1998 and 2005 before leaving to set up his private venture, SW Mitchell Capital. This closure is part of a rationalization of the firm’s Pan-European fund range which has now been cut from three funds to one; Waverton Special Situations was closed recently. This leaves Waverton European, which boasts a solid long-term record and is currently run by Katrina Norris.
BNY Mellon completes Insight acquisition
In a deal announced on August 12th, BNY Mellon has now completed the acquisition of Insight Investment Management from Lloyds Banking Group for £235m in cash and equities. Under the deal Insight will continue to operate on a standalone basis within BNY Mellon’s multi-boutique structure, bringing it alongside firms such as Newton Investment Management, Walter Scott & Partners, Blackfriars Asset Management and Standish Asset management. The acquisition has brought assets under management by BNY Mellon in excess of £600bn, confirming it as one of the largest asset managers globally. Lloyds has retained £42bn in internal assets under management run by its subsidiary, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership.
Martin Currie bolsters global equity resources
Martin Currie Investment Management has hired Christine Montgomery and Neil Robson within its global equities team. The team has USD 4.6bn under management and the additions reflect the firm’s attempt to ensure the team has the appropriate resources to run such sizeable pool. The duo, who are expected to join the firm by the end of the year, will work alongside global equities CIO James Fairweather. Both managers boast over two decades experience in global equities. Montgomery previously worked at Edinburgh Partners where she ran segregated institutional accounts worth USD 742m and prior to that she was at Franklin Templeton managing a USD 3bn pool. Robson has been hired from Pioneer where he was head of global equities and previously held a global sector strategist role at Baring. His record on board Pioneer Funds Global Trends has been subpar, however, this is less relevant given that he will be employing Martin Currie’s longstanding process.
SWIP hires fixed income director
Scottish Widows Investment Partnership has appointed Andrew Tunks to head its fixed income team. The firm is expecting a notable £20bn transfer of assets from Insight over the next few weeks which will bolster its fixed income assets under management to £65bn. Tunks will oversee the transition and help structure and develop his team’s capability, particularly given this growth in its asset pool. Tunks had been head of fixed income and global macro at Old Mutual Asset Management since 2005 and was replaced by Stewart Cowley in June of this year. At OMAM his performance on board Old Mutual Dynamic Bond and Old Mutual Global Strategic Bond was mixed.
Woolley replaces Kary as Polar Capital CEO
Polar Capital has appointed Tim Woolley as CEO following the resignation of Mark Kary. Woolley was executive director and has been heavily involved in the development of the firm over the last decade, particularly since he was one of the two original founders. He came from Henderson with Brian Ashford-Russell where the duo built a successful global technology franchise before setting-up Polar Capital. Kary has been with the firm since 2005 and has left to pursue other career interests.
Morningstar qualitative ratings and reports issued this week
Morningstar issued new qualitative ratings and reports on a number of funds available to UK investors this week, including JPM Global Natural Resources, FF – Euro Blue Chip, Cazenove MM Diversity and Fidelity European. Click here to see the full list.
