St James’s Place has appointed Columbia Threadneedle to run a £1.7bn Global Investment Grade Credit mandate.
Alasdair Ross, who is Columbia Threadneedle’s head of investment grade credit Emea, will manage the new fund alongside senior portfolio manager Ryan Staszewski.
Ross, who has been at Columbia Threadneedle since 2003, manages a number of global, euro and UK credit portfolios, including the £1bn Threadneedle Sterling Corporate Bond fund. Staszewski has overseen the £228.2m Threadneedle Strategic Bond fund since 2016 and also looks after a pair of Luxembourg-domiciled bond funds.
SJP Global Investment Grade Credit is the latest mandate Columbia Threadneedle has won off of the wealth manager. It currently runs the £7.9bn Strategic Managed fund, which Ross is a named co-manager on, and the £760m UK Equity fund, which recently absorbed a pair of underperforming funds managed by Majedie.
“We have a long-standing relationship with St James’s Place and we are very honoured to be able to grow this relationship further,” said Columbia Threadneedle Emea head of distribution Michaela Collet-Jackson.
“Alasdair Ross is an award winning portfolio manager, with a track record of delivering strong risk adjusted returns for clients through issuer and security selection and we are excited to manage the global investment grade credit allocations for St James’s Place clients.
“We have seen an increase in demand for our credit capabilities, as investors recognise the benefits of a research-driven, active approach in finding opportunities in fixed income.”
See also: SJP places Alternative Assets and Japan funds on watchlist due to performance issues
