Pioneer's U.S. CEO puts fresh focus on institutions

Pioneer Investment Management USA Inc.'s new President and CEO Lisa M. Jones is building the firm's bench as she looks to increase its U.S. institutional business.

Since Ms. Jones replaced Daniel K. Kingsbury as head of the Boston-based U.S. division of Pioneer Global Asset Management in 2014, 26 mid- and senior-level employees have joined the company in new positions, and she has 19 more roles to fill.

“The hirings that we've done have been to enhance and expand our direct sales effort,” Ms. Jones said in a phone interview. “We're looking to build out our institutional business.”

New hires at Pioneer Investments since Ms. Jones took the reins include Craig D. Sterling as senior vice president and head of U.S. equity research and Henry Orvin as senior vice president and head of U.S. business development. Mr. Sterling was global head of equity research at EVA Dimensions, while Mr. Orvin had been director, national accounts at Allianz Global Investors.

Also: Michael Dirstine and John Black were both named institutional business development officers in the U.S. Mr. Dirstine was vice president of institutional sales at Eaton Vance Corp., while Mr. Black was senior vice president, institutional sales at MacKenzie Investments.

“Over the last several years, the whole distribution environment has become much more institutional, so it's important to make sure to be pursuing (new employees) through the lens of an institutional process. It's a specific and important focus for us,” Ms. Jones said.

Sources with whom Pensions & Investments spoke said the hiring of Ms. Jones is just what the company needs after weathering several years of uncertainty about its future.

“Lisa Jones was a good hire for them. Her strength is distribution — she built Eaton Vance's institutional business almost from scratch,” said one investment banker, who asked not to be identified, in an e-mail. “Not surprisingly, she seems to be focused on upgrading their distribution.”

Although Ms. Jones said that there's no “specific target on a regional basis” to grow Pioneer's North American AUM, particularly as a percentage of global assets, she did say the firm's “strategy is one of continued growth ... and to grow our North American business.”

“It's important for us to have a diversified investment base across asset type and client type,” she added.

In addition to adding new people to the team, Ms. Jones plans to expand the firm's offerings. “I'd like to introduce liquid alternatives, global equity and international equity a year from now,” she said.

Although it had financial services offices throughout Europe before being acquired by UniCredit Group SpA, the firm previously known as Pioneer Group Inc. was primarily a U.S. manager.

But after the Italian banking company agreed to buy it in 2000 for $1.2 billion, it combined Pioneer with its asset management division, EuroPlus Research and Management, to form Pioneer Global Asset Management, making it a truly global manager.

As a result, Pioneer's $24 billion in assets in 2000 became a small portion of the new global firm's $100 billion in AUM.As of June 30, almost one-third of Pioneer Global's $246.5 billion in AUM — $71 billion — is managed by the U.S division for global clients. Of that $71 billion, $12.4 billion is institutional.

Ms. Jones is the fourth CEO for the U.S. division since UniCredit bought the manager.

The move to grow the money manager's North American business follows a period when Pioneer Investments' ownership was up in the air. UniCredit announced in May 2010 it would review selling Pioneer Global Asset Management and its U.S. arm, either together or separately. That caused some consultants to be wary of recommending the firm to clients.

One consultant who asked not to be named, pointed out that when ownership of a money manager is uncertain, it makes it difficult to recommend that manager regardless of how well its strategies are performing.

“If you're conducting a search (on behalf of a client), you can't say, "We like these guys, but we have no idea who's going to own them,'” the consultant said.

But UniCredit changed course roughly a year later, announcing in April 2011 that it would hold onto Pioneer after all, and help it continue growing organically.

But there were — and still are — more changes in store for Pioneer.

In September 2014, UniCredit began exclusive talks with Banco Santander to combine Pioneer Global Asset Management with the Spanish lender's fund business.

The two announced in April that UniCredit Group and Banco Santander SA planned to merge their money management divisions to create a $381.6 billion global firm, putting an end to months of speculation over the future of Pioneer Investments.

The non-binding, preliminary agreement is between UniCredit and Santander Asset Management's owners — 50% Banco Santander and 50% between private equity managers Warburg Pincus LLC and General Atlantic LLC.

A timeframe for closing the deal has not yet been disclosed.

Ms. Jones was unable to comment on any details regarding the impending merger.