RWC, Threadneedle Boost Institutional Teams

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.”

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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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PFA Pension, one of the largest providers of retirement benefits in Denmark, has appointed a new CIO.

Anders Damgaard is to join the €56 billion (DKK417 billion) fund from Danske Bank in January 2015, the pension announced. He is currently head of corporate and institutional banking.

In his current role, he has been “responsible for the Danish bank’s largest corporate customers and the bank’s financial and institutional clients and counterparties” PFA Pension said.

PFA Pension provides pension and retirement benefits for individuals and corporate entities in Denmark.

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“I have, during my 14 years in the bank, had close contact with Nordic institutions and businesses in many areas,” Damgaard said in a statement. “I always thought that pension funds have [had] a key role in the society. In particular since my days as a student, investment and risk have remained close to my heart.”

PFA Pension has been without a CIO since a reshuffle of investment and senior operational staff in 2009. This resulted in the departure of then CIO Henrik Franck who had led investments for around two and a half years.

The company’s assets grew by 12.7% over 2013, according to its annual report, which reflected investment returns and new customer capital.

It is a significant investor in local companies and real assets in the Nordic region.