Man Group’s discretionary investment management business, Man GLG, has bought Sanlam’s Strategic Bond portfolio for an undisclosed sum.
The deal will mean Sanlam’s strategic bond investment strategy and assets under management will become part of Man GLG's fixed income offering.
It comes just five months after Jon Mawby, the senior portfolio manager for bonds at Man GLG, resigned to take up another role at Pictet.
Mr Mawby ran the £100m Man GLG Corporate Bond fund and the £250m Man GLG Strategic Corporate Bond fund.
Sanlam portfolio managers Craig Veysey and Francois Kotze will join Man GLG running the strategic bond strategy, which is focused on investing in attractively valued corporate and government bond opportunities across the global bond universe.
Teun Johnston, chief executive of Man GLG, said: "Craig is a seasoned bond portfolio manager who, along with Francois, has developed a rigorous, repeatable investment process, which we believe offers a compelling proposition for our clients.
"We have a successful track record of hiring and integrating exceptional senior level talent and investment teams at Man GLG, and believe Craig and Francois' expertise will be highly additive to our existing strategic bond offering and to Man GLG’s overall fixed income platform."
Mr Veysey has a career spanning more than 17 years in the fund management industry and has been responsible for fixed income at Sanlam since 2009.
He has been the lead portfolio manager on the Sanlam strategic bond strategy since its launch in 2012.
Previously, Mr Veysey managed global bond funds at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and he was a senior member of the global fixed income team at HSBC Investment Management.
Mr Kotze joined the fixed income team at Sanlam Four in 2017, working alongside Mr Veysey as assistant portfolio manager on the strategic bond strategy.
Before joining Sanlam he was a fixed income research analyst at Rathbone Brothers.
Jonathan Polin, chief executive of Sanlam UK, said: "Our absolute priority is the safe stewardship of our clients’ assets and it is in their best interests to see the fund transition smoothly to Man GLG where it will be managed by the same team, to the same strategy and with the same process, methodologies and tools.
"This is not a decision we have taken lightly. Over the past two years we invested significant time and resources to marketing the fund successfully within the wealth management market, securing early adopters and substantial new fund flows.
"We will continue to bring on-board talented teams and give them the freedom to develop their investment strategy to deliver strong performance for our clients."
emma.hughes@ft.com
