Man Group Plc (LON:EMG), the London-based hedge fund which is trying to expand its bond investments, hired Sudi Mariappa, the former global head of portfolio management at Pimco, the world’s largest bond fund manager.
The ex-Pimco executive will be handling a series of bond funds in the Man Group’s GLG unit. The London-based hedge fund purchased GLG partners in 2010 for $1.6 billion, to diversify its investment funds. GLG runs a range of credit funds as well as the Atlas macro fund, which invests in sovereign bonds. However, Man’s investors have not been too happy with the performance and acquisition of GLC and have continued to pull their money out of the firm. Just a few days earlier, Man’s Systematic Strategies unit announced the launch of a computer-driven bond fund.
Despite razor thin, or negative yields in some developed markets, many big hedge fund firms, including Man and Brevan Howard, still believe that bond trading is attractive at present.“We look forward to building our business in an asset class which has many attractions for investors in today’s volatile market environment,” Manny Roman, the Man Group’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.
The ex-Pimco, Sudi Mariappa, has been with Pimco for ten years, from 2000 to 2010, and had worked with high-profile founder Bill Gross, on its hedge funds. The joining for Mariappa comes at a tough time as the Man Group Plc (LON:EMG), one of the world’s largest publicly traded hedge funds, has been struggling to stay on track amid global volatility in the financial markets. To overcome the crisis, company has announced in July that it would try and achieve $100 million of cost savings by the end of 2013.
Man Group Plc (LON:EMG) has $52.7 billion in assets as at the end of June. Man group shares have dropped by around three-quarters since the start of last year, due to withdrawal from clients and poor fund performance. Just a few months before, in June, Man dropped its finance director. Also the company said separately that Driss Ben-Brahim, co-manager of GLG’s Atlas Macro fund, will take early retirement and leave the industry.
