Morley Fund Management, home to one of Europe’s leading SRI teams, announces the appointment of fund manager Derek Lygo and analyst Claire Harrold to its Socially Responsible Investment team, as funds under management in the SRI fund range exceed £1 billion (€1.49 billion).
Morley Fund Management, home to one of Europe’s leading SRI teams, announces the appointment of fund manager Derek Lygo and analyst Claire Harrold to its Socially Responsible Investment team, as funds under management in the SRI fund range exceed Ł1 billion (€1.49 billion)*.
Derek Lygo joins Morley in October to manage the SRI Long Short Cell of the Morley Alternative Investment Strategy fund. He will report to Peter Michaelis, head of SRI.
Claire Harrold also joins in October as an analyst focusing specifically on the pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, healthcare, retailers, beverages, tobacco and property sectors and will report to Ronnie Lim, head of SRI research.
These hires follow the recent appointment of Dr Steve Waygood, chair of the UK Social Investment Forum, to Morley’s SRI team. He joins in November in the newly created role of head of SRI engagement. Steve will implement Morley’s SRI engagement and voting program and work closely with the corporate governance team to coordinate all environmental, social and governance voting.
Morley Fund Management’s head of SRI Dr Peter Michaelis said Derek and Claire’s appointments position Morley to capitalise on the increasing number of SRI opportunities arising in the market.
“We have two clear goals within our SRI team: delivering strong investment performance and growing our funds under management.
“Since 2001, we have successfully grown our funds under management from zero to Ł1 billion. We have a great track record in managing a broad range of SRI funds and the appointment of high calibre individuals like Derek, Claire and Steve is proof of our commitment to delivering strong performance.
“We are positioned well to benefit from the strong trends arising from sustainable development and I am confident these will be reinforced as environmental and social pressures become more apparent,” he said.
Derek joins Morley from CQS LLP where he launched the company’s first Absolute Return Equity Fund achieving +30% performance in the first year. Prior to this, he was head of UK equities at First State Investments. He also worked for Dresdner Global Investors as investment director – European equities. He has more than 20 years investment management experience.
Claire joins Morley from Citigroup Investment Research where she was a research assistant focusing on SRI. Before this she worked as a commercial property analyst for Jones Lang LaSalle.
Firms within the Morley group of companies manage in excess of Ł162 billion (€239 billion)** with more than Ł1 billion in active SRI equity and bond mandates. Morley was also recently appointed one of five fund managers for FRR’s €600 million SRI mandate.
Morley was ranked the number one fund manager for its understanding of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) and Extra-Financial Issues in the latest Thomson Extel SRI and Extra-Financial Survey released earlier this year.
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* as at 20 October 2006
** as at 30 September 2006
For more information contact:
Beth Saint
Corporate Communications
Telephone: 020 7809 8125
Morley Fund Management
Notes to editors:
Morley Fund Management
Morley Fund Management Limited is the UK-based asset management business of Aviva plc. Firms within the Morley group of companies manage Ł162billon (€239 billion) from offices around the world as at 30 September 2006.
Morley manages both institutional and retail funds under the Morley brand. It also acts as investment manager for a range of retail investment funds, marketed in the UK under the Norwich Union brand, and international funds marketed under the Aviva Funds brand.
Awards
- Property Fund Manager of the Year, Pensions Management Awards 2006
- Best Commitment to Raising Standards of Trustee Education, Engaged Investor Awards 2006
- Property Fund Manager of the Year, Property Week Awards 2006
- SRI Provider of the Year, Global Pensions 2006
- Central European Property Awards 2005 - Outstanding Company of the Year & Investor of the Year
- UK Pensions Awards 2005 – Property Manager of the Year
- Property Week Awards 2004 – Best Property Fund Manager
- Pensions Management Provider Awards 2003 – Best Property Fund Manager
- Fund Manager of the Year - Pensions Week Awards 2002
- Specialist Manager of the Year - UK Pensions Awards 2002
Further information about Morley Fund Management can be found at www.morleyfm.com