River and Mercantile Group has appointed the global head of Aberdeen Standard Investments to its board as executive director, responsible for strategic development.
Alex Hoctor-Duncan will join the value fund house later this year at the end of his contractual duties at Aberdeen.
James Barham, group chief executive of River and Mercantile, said: “I am very excited that Alex will be joining us. He has a long, proven track record in the industry and will bring a perspective to our strategic development that will fit in well with our ambitions to take River and Mercantile forward to the next stage.
“The momentum within the business is noticeable as the investment we made in distribution and in new investment teams make an impact in particular in our solutions and wholesale businesses. I look forward to welcoming Alex to the board.”
Hoctor-Duncan will join industry veteran and former colleague Martin Gilbert, who is deputy chairman of the board of River and Mercantile.
In May last year, Gilbert stood down as chairman of Aberdeen Standard Investments after 37 years at the company, having co-founded Aberdeen Asset Management and led the firm into a merger with Standard Life to create Aberdeen Standard Investments in 2017.
Gilbert was co-chief executive of the combined firm at the time of the merger but later moved to the deputy chairman role.
In January River and Mercantile also appointed a number of former Aviva Investors employees, including Ian Berry who was previously head of infrastructure equity at Aviva.
The firm also issued a trading update, saying it continued to trade in line with expectations and had won £3bn of new mandates to be finalised this year. It currently manages about £44bn.
sally.hickey@ft.com
