Royal London Asset Management has hired Société Générale Asset Management's two London-based fixed-income portfolio managers. Stephen Peirce, manager of SGAM's sterling corporate bond fund, and Paul Rayner, who managed gilts, will start at RLAM next month as senior fund managers. Peirce will focus on corporate bonds and index-linked government bonds, while Rayner's mandate includes U.K. and overseas government bonds, according to Karen Wagg, RLAM spokeswoman. The duo will report to Jonathan Platt, head of the fixed-interest team.
The expansion of the RLAM bond team comes in response to the growth in clients and assets under management, said Wagg. RLAM is the wholly owned asset management subsidiary of the second largest mutual life insurer in the U.K., The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society. The firm has £23.4 billion in assets under management, £13 billion of which is in fixed income.
At SGAM, Peirce and Rayner reported to Keith Percy, chairman and ceo of SGAM U.K. Percy said SGAM is transitioning its London-based sterling bond portfolios to Paris, where Guy Lodewijckx will manage the index-linked funds, Marie-Anne Allier the corporate bond funds, and Jean-Michel Vallas the gilt funds. Percy said an additional fund manager might be hired to help run gilts in Paris. Only equity portfolios are now run out of London, according to Percy.