UK – Hermes Pensions Management has make three appointments to its corporate governance team, taking the total staffing of the team to 45.

It has named John Leach as executive director of Hermes Focus Asset Management, which manages the Hermes UK Focus Fund. He a former chief executive of leisure company Brent Walker. It said he is responsible for engaging with companies in the fund.

HFAM chief executive Peter Butler said: "Hermes is unique in employing experienced businessmen to help boards of investee companies deal with difficult issues. John's appointment represents a significant strengthening of our team."

Hermes also named Mark Hersee as an investment manager at HFAM. He was formerly at Bank of America Equities and he will be involved in identifying potential investee companies.

Makoto Seta joins from Cazenove Japan to be corporate governance analyst - Asia Pacific.

Hermes’ focus funds work with boards of investee companies “to address structural and strategic governance problems and thus improve performance”.

Hermes, owned by the BT Pension Scheme, has around 40 billion pounds under management.

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