RWC has hired former MFS Investment Management Director Rash Patel to boost its direct institutional business.
Patel left MFS earlier this year and in his new role joins Joanna Lancaster, head of client services. He has specific responsibility for direct relationships with institutional investors, in addition to RWC’s existing links with consultants.
RWC CEO Dan Mannix told CIO that Patel’s appointment reflected the London-based boutique’s growing presence in the institutional market since it bought activist investment specialist Hermes Focus Asset Management in 2012.
He said: “When we took on the activist funds, that raised our profile in the institutional space. We’ve gone from $5 billion to $10 billion under management and we’ve gone from having no global equity products to having two global equity funds. Before that we hadn’t had products in mainstream areas for institutional investors.”
Meanwhile, Threadneedle Investments—the UK sister firm to US-based Columbia Management—has also added to its institutional team with the appointment of Chris Wagstaff as head of institutional marketing.
Wagstaff, who featured in CIO’s inaugural Power 100 list in 2012, joins from Cass Business School Executive Education where he was client director. He has also held a number of roles on various trustee boards, most recently at the Aviva Staff Pension Scheme.
Dominik Kremer, head of institutional sales at Threadneedle Investments, said: “Chris has first-hand experience as a pension trustee and will help us focus on the needs of this client base, be it providing educational support or thought-provoking views on industry issues. He will also work closely with our investment and distribution teams to help develop strategies that are fit for purpose in the changing pensions and regulatory landscape.”
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