PIMCO, Blackstone, Investec, Mesirow, Actiam, VNU, Mercer, Neuberger Berman, SEI, Nomura, SSGA, DWS, JOHCM, Mirabaud, Candriam, BNP Paribas AM

PIMCO – The €240.7bn fixed income specialist has hired John Studzinski from private assets giant Blackstone as managing director and vice chairman. In the newly created position, he will feed in to strategy and advisory functions, PIMCO said.

Chief executive officer Emmanuel Roman described Studzinski as “a true statesman in the world of global finance”.

At Blackstone, Studzinski was a senior managing director and vice chairman for investor relations and bsuiness development. He had particular responsibility for the company’s top clients, including sovereign and institutional investors. 

Studzinski also worked for Morgan Stanley for many years, including has head of European investment banking, and also helped establish HSBC’s investment banking division.

Investec Asset Management – Richard Haxe has joined the €117bn asset management firm as a managing director for its European client group. He has been tasked with building out Investec’s European business.

Haxe joins from Wellington Asset Management where he oversaw client relations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He has also led EMEA region business for Alliance Bernstein and Rothschild Asset Management. 

Mesirow Financial – The currency management specialist has named Dominick Mondi as its new chief executive officer, effective 1 October. He is currently the company’s president and has worked at Mesirow for nearly 10 years. He replaces Richard Price, currently chairman and CEO, who will become executive president for a five-year term.

Actiam – The €56bn Dutch asset manager Actiam – part of insurer Vivat – has appointed Wilma Schouten as chief risk officer, succeeding John Shen. She joins from APG Pensioenfonds Services, where she worked in a similar role. Prior to this, Schouten was head of risk management at electronics giant Philips and head of market risk at Rabobank International.

The executive board of Actiam also comprises Hans van Houwelingen (CEO) and Dudley Keiller (CTO). Raymond de Kuiper, head of insurance clients, is acting CIO, while Actiam seeks a successor for Arnold Gast, who left after just a year in the job.

VNU Pensioenfonds – Marcel Rutte has started as chairman of the €594m pension fund of publishing firm VNU. He succeeds Ed Penninx , who has left after 12 years at the helm. Rutte has been a trustee at the scheme since 2009.

Mercer – The consulting giant has named Angelika Delen to lead its new Austrian investment consulting business as head of institutional and socially responsible investment. She was previously head of institutional sales at Amundi Austria, and has also worked for Volksbank Investments, Falcon Europe and AIG Investments.

Josef Papousek, managing director of Mercer in Austria, said: “The political developments worldwide and their effects on capital markets as well as persistently low interest rates pose new challenges for institutional investors and companies in Austria. Therefore, it was a logical step for us to support them with our own unit.”

Neuberger Berman – The independent asset manager has appointed Alberto Salato to a newly created role of head of southern Europe. Based in Milan, he will oversee the firm’s distribution efforts in Italy, Spain and Portugal. He previously led BlackRock’s Italian institutional business for more than 10 years, and has also worked for Franklin Templeton and JP Morgan Private Banking.

SEI – Alistair Jones has joined from Schroders as an advice director, tasked with giving strategic investment advice to the fiduciary manager’s institutional client base. At Schroders he was an investment strategist in the group’s portfolio solutions team, and has also worked at Aon Hewitt and Watson Wyatt (now Willis Towers Watson).

Nomura Asset Management – The Japanese fund management group has hired Peter Ball to lead its distribution efforts in the EMEA region. He joins from Kames Capital, the UK-based asset manager owned by Aegon, where he was head of global distribution and director of its institutional business. He has previously led institutional operations at JP Morgan Asset Management and the investment arm of JLT Employee Benefits.

State Street Global Advisors – SSGA has appointed Stefan Kuhn as managing director and head of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for Germany, responsible for oversight of the SPDR ETF business in Germany across all client bases.

He joins from Lyxor where he was head of ETF sales, and was previously head of flow rates and BNP Paribas. During the course of a 20-year career he has worked at Morgan Stanley, Sal Oppenheim, Banco Santander and JP Morgan.

DWS – The asset management arm of Deutsche Bank has appointed Hartwig Kos to lead asset allocation within its multi-asset team. He will join the group’s Frankfurt office in early 2019, DWS said. He is currently co-head of multi-asset and vice chief investment officer at SYZ Asset Management in London, and was previously an investment director at Barings’ global multi-asset operations.

JO Hambro Capital Management – The UK based investment house has hired Aled Smith as investment director, tasked with overseeing JOHCM’s 16 strategy teams and adding to its talent pool.

Smith joins from M&G Investments, where he was director of the equity business and equity fund manager. He will join JOHCM on 24 September in its London office.

Mirabaud Asset Management – The Swiss asset manager has hired Hamid Amoura from BNP Paribas to aid its implementation of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investment strategies. Amoura spent 12 years at BNP Paribas, latterly as the central co-ordinator for the company’s ESG implementation efforts.

Candriam – Thomas Kälin has joined the €112.6bn investment house as a senior client relationship manager for the wholesale and institutional markets. Based in Zurich, the company said his appointment reinforced the importance of Switzerland as a core market. Kälin was previously a client director at GAM, and has also worked at Credit Suisse and Bank Leu.

BNP Paribas Asset Management – Peter Abbott has been appointed head of European large-cap equities at the French asset manager with effect from 1 October. He succeeds Andrew King, who is leaving the company “to puruse external opportunities”, the group said in a statement.

Abbott is one of the founding members of the European large-cap equities team, BNP Paribas said, having joined ABN Amro Asset Management in 2007. BNP Paribas concluded its purchase of ABN Amro this month.

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