Asian equities manager Joshua Crabb, who exited what was then Old Mutual Global Investors in April, has resurfaced at Robeco where he will be a senior portfolio manager.
Crabb (pictured) joined the Hong Kong office of the asset manager on 23 October, the same day his former employer, now known as Merian Global Investors, revealed it had signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese asset management firm for distribution, advisory services and marketing in the region.
His Asian Equity Income fund returned 55% between his appointment in October 2014 and the global equities team taking over management of the fund on 18 May 2018, according to FE Analytics figures. The Asia Pacific ex-Japan sector returned 57.2% over the period. He also ran the Asia Pacific Equity fund, which returned 51.2% over the same period and was in the same sector.
He also managed the China Equity fund before management was outsourced to Ping An Asset Management in March.
Tech and discretionary consumer focus
Robeco and Merian are both eyeing growth in the region.
Arnout van Rijn, Robeco’s CIO for Asia-Pacific, said Crabb’s appointment would support its “ambitious” growth objectives for Asia Pacific equities detailed in the fund house’s 2017-2021 strategy. He will be co-manager on a number of institutional mandates and back-up manager on the asset manager’s Asia-Pacific Equities strategy.
Van Rijn said: “Joshua will be embedded in our team of generalist portfolio managers who each focus on a number of sectors and countries according to a matrix setup. Sectors Joshua will focus on are information technology and consumer discretionary. In terms of countries, he will focus on Korea, India and Asean.”
Crabb joined OMGI as head of Asian equities in 2014 and had previously worked for Blackrock and Prudential Asset Management in their Hong Kong offices. The Australian national has lived in Hong Kong since 2001.
Robeco’s Asia Pacific team manages $7.8bn and is based between Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Alongside the Asia-Pacific Equities fund Crabb will work on, the team of nine portfolio managers runs five further strategies: Pacific (Developed) Equities, Asia ex-Japan Equities, Chinese Equities, Chinese A-share Equities and Indian Equities.
