People Moves: GAM Holding, Aviva Investors, Fidante Partners
GAM Holding
GAM Holding AG, the Zurich-based SIX Swiss Exchange-listed fund manager said to be Switzerland’s largest by assets, has hired Rachel Wheeler as its group general counsel, succeeding Dirk Spiegel, who left the company last month.
Wheeler, who will join GAM “later this year”, will become a member of the company’s management board, pending customary regulatory approval, the company said in a statement.
Wheeler comes to GAM from Aviva Investors, where she has been since 2014. Prior to joining Aviva, she worked in different senior positions in the legal teams of USS Investment Management, Bank of New York Mellon, Gartmore Investment Management and Merrill Lynch Investment Management, according to GAM.
At the end of December, GAM had assets under management of CHF158.7bn ($162.9bn).
AVIVA Investors
Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of London-based, LSE-listed Aviva plc, has named Daniel McHugh to head up its UK real estate operations, and Melanie Collett head of real estate asset management.
McHugh, who officially joined the company yesterday, will be based in London, and will report to Aviva Investors Real Estate chief executive. In his new role, he will be responsible for all of Aviva Investors’ direct real estate activity in the UK, which will involve overseeing the company’s specialist fund management, asset management and transaction teams, Aviva said in a statement announcing his appointment.
McHugh comes to Aviva Investors from Standard Life Investments, where he was head of continental European Real Estate Investment, and had been “instrumental in repositioning and significantly growing the business in the region since 2008”, according to the Aviva statement. He first joined Standard Life Investments in 2000.
Collett, who joins the company next week, will report to McHugh, and like him will be based in Aviva Investors’ London offices. She will be responsible for the company’s “sector-focused asset management teams, development management and project management capabilities”, Aviva said.
Collett comes to Aviva Investors from Round Hill Capital, where she had been head of asset management from November 2015 until last month, managing the company’s European portfolio on behalf of US private equity partners. Prior to this she’d spent 12 years at GE Capital Real Estate, and before that, worked for a German bank for five years.
Fidante Partners
Fidante Partners — previously Dexion Capital plc, and a fully owned, international investment management arm of ASX-listed Challenger Ltd — has named Hugh Ferrand to its institutional business development team in its London office.
Ferrand, pictured left, comes to Fidante Partners from Invesco Perpetual, which he joined in 1999, and where he most recently headed up its institutional division’s sales operations. In this role, he “successfully grew [Invesco Perpetual’s] institutional business, while developing strong relationships with clients across pension schemes, charities, endowment funds and insurance firms”, Fidante Partners said in a statement announcing hisappointment.
Prior to joining Invesco, Ferrand had been an investment manager, initially at Adam Bank, then at Blairlogie. He began his career at Cazenove in 1981, where he worked for 11 years researching and selling Asian equities.
He continues to be a Birkbeck College governor.
Fidante said Ferrand will work closely with Max Bickford in its institutional sales team, where he will be “responsible for developing Fidante Partners’ institutional business development activities and [its] engagement with pension funds and insurance companies across the UK”.
He will report to Fidante Partners global head Cathy Hales.
Hugh is the latest senior executive appointment to be announced recently at Fidante. Other recent appointments have included Gihan Ismail, named to the newly- created role of head of strategic partnerships at Fidante Partners, and John Armstrong-Denby, the new head of corporate finance at Fidante Capital, the international capital markets business of Fidante Partners.
Joachim Klement was also recently named to lead the investment research operations at both Fidante Partners and Fidante Capital.
In addition to London, Fidante has offices in Sydney, London, Stockholm and New York. Its parent, Challenger Ltd, has a total of around A$76.5bn in assets under management, based on end-of-2017 data.
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