GERMANY - James Dilworth has quit as managing director of Goldman Sachs Asset Management in Germany.

Confirming information obtained by IPE, a spokesman for GSAM in Frankfurt said he's been replaced by Axel Hörger. Hörger was previously responsible for GSAM's institutional business in Germany.

The spokesman made no further comment but sources told IPE they understood Dilworth was leaving to "do his own thing".

Dilworth ceased to act as a director for a series of Goldman funds as of November 21, according to an exchange filing on November 24.

Under Dilworth's watch, GSAM became one of the biggest foreign players in the German institutional market. As of November 2005, it had $11bn (€8.3bn) in institutional assets under management in Germany, around half of which were from pension funds.

GSAM did not give a more current AUM figure, but well-informed industry sources speculated that it could be around $12bn.

Among German institutional investors, GSAM is known for specialising in global tactical asset allocation (GTAA). GTAA seeks to enhance investor returns by taking a series of relative bets in global equity, fixed income and currency markets and engaging in asset class timing and US equity size timing.

Beyond GTAA, GSAM is also known in the market for its pension advisory unit. The unit, which is headed by Dirk Popielas, provides services like asset liability studies and advice on portfolio construction.

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