EquitiesJan 1 2013

OMGI chief outlines growth plans

twitter-iconfacebook-iconlinkedin-iconmail-iconprint-icon
Search supported by

Mr Ide said the firm has now hired roughly 21 new members of staff – in sales, communications, product, compliance, business strategy and finance roles – as part of plans to aggressively promote the new recently merged OMGI entity.

The OMGI sales team has been split into a “client segment” focused approach, with clear targets for sales to each type of client base, where the team did not have specific areas of coverage before, he said.

He also revealed that former Skandia Investment Group chief financial officer Marc Bulstrode left in December to join Fidelity, to be replaced by former Old Mutual Asset Managers chief financial officer Mitchell Dean.

“We are going to continue to focus on investment performance but the thing that has really changed is the sales team,” Mr Ide said.

“We took a pretty tough look at that sales team and clearly needed to make it much more client focused. We have made a lot of changes and reinvigorated the team and now have a complete UK sales team in place.”

Mr Ide took over as chief executive at OMGI when it was formed of the merger of Old Mutual Asset Managers, of which Mr Ide was formerly chief executive, and Skandia Investment Group last year.

The firms’ parent group, insurance giant Old Mutual, merged the asset managers as part of wider integration plans which will also see the Skandia platform rebranded. A total of 30 roles were cut as part of the asset management integration.

OMGI is now a London-headquartered asset manager with roughly £14bn under management, which would rank it 20th in the UK according to the most recent IMA data.

Other staff have also been retasked across the wider group, such as James Millard, former SIG chief investment officer, who started a new role on January 1 within an investment solutions group at the wider Skandia business.

Mr Ide said the company had deliberately refocused its distribution team in a bid to boost sales to IFAs and make a stronger play for the discretionary fund management market.

“If we are to be a top five player in the marketplace in three to five years’ time we will have to have some pretty good sales numbers to achieve that,” he said.

“It is not going to be good enough to be number 15 or 10. We are pretty ambitious in terms of sales.”

He said the wider Old Mutual Wealth group, which also includes the Skandia platform and other distribution entities, would play a major role in boosting the asset management unit to the UK’s top five.

The shift to splitting the OMGI sales team into separate client segment groups comes after the group made a similar move on the platform sales team last year.

In December OMGI announced that Brian Mclaughlin and Graeme Brown had been appointed as advisory sales managers for the North and South respectively. They will report to Steven Brown, head of advisory distribution.

Nick Pearse has been hired from MAM Funds as discretionary sales manager for the South, the group also said.

The line up: top OMGI staff

Julian Ide

The chief executive took on the role for the combined group in April last year, having previously been the chief executive at OMAM UK. Mr Ide has been in the asset management industry for roughly 20 years. He was head of the institutional business at BBVA Asset Management before joining Old Mutual in October 2011.

Warren Tonkinson

Mr Tonkinson was hired in June last year as global head of distribution after the decision to merge Omam UK and SIG was made. Mr Tonkinson previously held the role of head of strategic alliances at UBS Global Asset Management, a company he spent 10 years at. He has also worked at Fidelity and Prudential.

Donald Pepper

The group’s new managing director of alternatives is set to boost the company’s capability in that space. He joined from TT International where he was investment director - hedge funds. Prior to this role, he spent 16 years at Goldman Sachs, followed by a stint at Merrill Lynch and in 2008 he became head of alternatives at New Star Asset Management and stayed there until 2010.

The formation of Old Mutual Global Investors

April 2012 - The merger of the Old Mutual and Skandia fund businesses is announced with Julian Ide named as chief executive of the combined group

July 2012 - Old Mutual announces a consultation to cut up to 30 jobs at the two fund groups set to be merged.

September 2012 - Parent group Old Mutual announces that Old Mutual Global Investors will be the name of the combined entity created by Skandia Investment Group and Old Mutual Asset Managers UK

December 2012 - The fund group makes several appointments including Donald Pepper as managing director of alternatives and makes three sales hires including Mam Funds’ Nick Pearse as discretionary sales manager for the South