GLG poaches third Pimco manager for fixed income expansion

GLG has made a number of hires to its macro and fixed income team to include specialists from Pimco, alongside specialists outside of the asset management industry.

Senior portfolio manager Kumaran Damodaran will join GLG after a four-year stint at the firm's Californian-based rival bringing with him expertise in emerging markets and absolute return strategies.

Prior to his time at Pimco, Damodaran traded Latin American local currency derivatives in a senior position at Lehmann Brothers.

The hire follows GLG's appointment of Sudi Mariappa, who worked beside Damodaran on absolute return strategies at Pimco before moving last year to GLG.

Damodaran will now report to Mariappa and Jamil Baz, who will co-head macro and fixed income at GLG. Baz also has a history at Pimco where he helped build the firm's multi-asset global investment approach.

Other hires include Brian Pinto who joins from the World Bank as senior macro economist for the group, specialising in emerging markets. Pinto will work closely with exisiting GLG strategist Driss Lamrani.

Richard Bateson will join the team as senior quantitative analyst from Man AHL, the systematic trading arm of the group.

On the appointments Mariappa said: “I am pleased to be leading GLG’s expansion in this area alongside someone as distinguished as Jamil. We have already been developing a unique common research platform covering analytics and macro-economic research, which the team will use to inform their investment decisions. The addition of Kumaran, Brian and Richard will be invaluable in developing this and our associated investment management offering.”

At the end of September 2012, GLG had $23.6 billion in assets under management.