MILWAUKEE — Artisan Partners lifted out an emerging markets investment team from DuPont Capital Management, according to Andrew Ziegler, Artisan CEO and managing partner. The four senior investment professionals, led by Maria Negrete-Gruson, managing director and portfolio manager, will run the new investment strategy for Artisan. Ms. Negrete-Gruson, along with analysts Chen Gu, Meagan Nace and Julie Pfeffer, worked as a team that managed $650 million in assets at DuPont for the past six years.
Mr. Ziegler said Artisan officials sought to bring on a dedicated emerging markets team to complement its three international investment strategies and also to meet the demands of institutional clients. "Emerging markets have evolved from a fringe asset class to a critical asset class," he said. "Overall, we're all moving towards a more global approach to investing."
Artisan has $50 billion in assets under management. DuPont Capital is the investment management unit of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington, Del., which has $24.9 billion in pension assets.
Donald Pepin, managing director at DuPont, confirmed the team's departure and said a search will be conducted to replace them.