Liontrust’s head of sustainable fixed income Stuart Steven is to retire in September.
Steven (pictured) has spent the past decade developing and managing the fixed income proposition within the asset manager’s sustainable investment team.
He will start to relinquish his responsibilities from April.
His colleagues Aitken Ross, Kenny Watson and Jack Willis will retain their current roles as lead managers of the Liontrust SF Corporate Bond and SF Monthly Income Bond funds.
Steven has worked in the industry for 34 years, investing in fixed income markets for 29 of these. He joined the sustainable investment team in 2013 and moved to Liontrust with the rest of the team in 2017 when the company acquired Alliance Trust Investments (ATI).
Earlier in his career Steven was head of corporate bonds at Britannic Asset Management, director of corporate bonds at Legal & General and investment director at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership.
“It is a good time for me to retire given the development and expansion of the fixed income team over the past few years,” said Steven.
“There is extensive knowledge and experience on the team with Aitken, Kenny and Jack having more than 50 years’ industry experience between them. For investors, there is continuation in both the same managers being responsible for the funds and using the same investment process.”
Aitken, Kenny and Jack will continue to be supported by three ‘Sustainable Future’ fixed income team members, along with the rest of the 16-strong Liontrust Sustainable Investment team.
Head of that team Peter Michaelis said: “Stuart has done a fantastic job of improving the integration of sustainability into our two fixed income strategies and building an excellent team. We wish him well for the future.”
His departure is the latest in a string of changes at Liontrust, which confirmed last month that Robin Geffin is to exit the firm and Chris Field is no longer managing the firm’s UK Focus fund – a strategy he has worked on for two decades.
See also: Outflows hamper Liontrust AUMA growth
