Karl Dasher, global head of fixed income at Schroders, will become CEO, North America, effective July 1.
Mr. Dasher will replace Jamie Dorrien-Smith, who will retire from the firm on July 1.
Also, Philippe Lespinard, chief investment officer, fixed income, will become co-head of fixed income along with Mr. Dasher.
Mr. Dasher has been with Schroders since 2008; previously he was CIO at SEI Investments.
In a news release Monday, Massimo Tosato, executive vice chairman at Schroders, said Mr. Dasher was “the best person to help us realize the major opportunity we see to grow in North America, and we expect it to become a significantly larger proportion of our total business over the next five years across fixed income, equities, multiasset and alternatives.”
On Dec. 17, Schroders announced it was acquiring STW Fixed Income Management, which raised Schroders’ North American fixed-income assets under management by about $12 billion to $36 billion, or 15% to 44% of Schroders’ $81 billion in global fixed-income AUM, Mr. Tosato said. The deal is expected to close during the first half of this year, he said.
In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Dasher said his appointment and the addition of STW don’t mean that Schroders is looking to become primarily a bond manager in the U.S., since in his previous role at SEI he oversaw multiasset strategies.
“We want U.S. institutional investors … to see us as an organization that can be competitive in all strategies,” Mr. Dasher said.
Mr. Dasher said Schroders will target a variety of clients, but “we’ve seen the greatest interest from the defined benefit and insurance arenas, with significant flows into multiasset strategies from both.” And while the firm is not interested in being a bundled provider to defined contribution plans, he sees opportunities working with bundlers as a defined contribution investment-only provider.
“There’s a great client base overall,” Mr. Dasher said of the U.S. and North America.
Mr. Dasher will be based in New York.
