Friends Life Investments will initially take over the group’s existing fixed income assets in respect of annuity liabilities, shareholder funds and assets backing other non-profit liabilities. The target is to then expand into different asset classes as the business grows.
A team of 15 is now working under chief investment officer Mark Versey, head of fixed income Michael Wright and director of asset management operations Andrew Brown.
In January it poached the fixed income portfolio management team from LV= asset management led by Michael Wright alongside John Hampton, Purna Bhudia and Nigel Bradshaw. The full team is expected to reach 20 by the end of this year.
Versey said: “We have recaptured over £6bn of assets on day one and we have ambitious plans to transfer further sizeable assets during 2012 and beyond.
“The build and launch of a new asset management company of this scale in under a year is a tremendous testament to the quality of the teams led by Andrew Brown and Michael Wright. We will now look to rapidly expand and create further cost synergies as FLI grows its assets under management.”
