Sloane (pictured), who left the firm to pursue charity work and other outside interests after the closure of the Martin Currie Global Alpha fund he helped run, will become a portfolio manager in the group’s global emerging markets (GEMs) team. He has more than 19 years of investment experience.
He will replace outgoing manager Andrew Ness who is leaving the Legg Mason affiliate to take up a new opportunity in the industry.
Sloane’s appointment comes as the firm is on a hiring kick. The asset manager has made four strategic appointments since the start of the year, including raiding Blackrock to find a replacement for equities jack of all trades Tom Walker, who announced his retirement in May.
Most recently the group hired ex-Old Mutual Global Investors boss and Source ETF CEO Julian Ide as head of distribution and strategy.
Back into the fold
The Martin Currie Global Alpha fund, previously co-managed by Sloane, shut up shop last June.
The fund returned 93.10% in the eleven years since it was launched, falling short of the UT Global sector’s returns of 113.6% over the same period, according to Trustnet.
At the time, Martin Currie said it terminated the fund because “we believe that the Martin Currie Global Long Term Unconstrained and Global Equity Income strategies are more compelling products and therefore we have decided to concentrate our efforts and resources on these”.
Building up GEMs
Martin Currie chief executive Willie Watt said that Sloane’s appointment is part of the firm’s plan to bolster its GEM team to meet the needs of its international client base. Watt said the firm is seeing “strong demand” from both wholesale and institutional clients.
“It’s great to welcome Paul back to the company,” he said. “He is a highly respected and experienced global stock picker whose investment philosophy of investing in quality businesses with strong growth potential is very much aligned to that of our global emerging markets team.
“Paul has the personal attributes and technical ability for this role and enjoyed a great working relationship with our GEMs team. Not only does he have deep expertise in portfolio-relevant stock research and significant knowledge across several global sectors, he also has the ability to form, communicate and challenge opinion. With these attributes, Paul will be a powerful addition to our collaborative team-based approach.”
Martin Currie runs $19bn across its long-term unconstrained, market aware, sustainable income and growth and absolute returns strategies.
