From Friday, Odd will run the service alongside Fairstone’s Oliver Stone, who has been promoted from his previous position as group head of research.
The duo are taking over the responsibilities of Mark Woods, who is relinquishing his management duties after serving six years as investment strategy officer to lead his own Watermark Wealth Management business, which Fairstone is acquiring next year.
Odd, who began his career at Jupiter, joined M&G in 2005 and took over the management of the M&G Income fund in 2006. In July 2010 he was handed the M&G Dividend mandate, with the two funds merging a year later.
After leaving M&G in 2013, Odd set up his own asset management firm, running the VT Odd Real Income Fund since September 2015. According to Fairstone, he has managed more than £2bn over a career spanning 20-plus years.
Fairstone chief executive Lee Hartley said: “We are delighted to welcome Alex to the team, I have no doubt that his experience of successfully managing assets for some of the UK’s leading fund businesses will be of great benefit to Fairstone and can only strengthen our proposition.
“Oliver has been an integral part of our investment management team for some time now and it is great to see his commitment to the firm recognised with this promotion.”
