Morley Fund Management today announced that it had boosted its UK equities team with the hiring of Chris Murphy to a newly created fund manager position.
Morley Fund Management today announced that it had boosted its UK equities team with the hiring of Chris Murphy to a newly created fund manager position. The team has also been strengthened by the internal promotion of fund manager Dan Roberts to manage the UK Equities Income portfolios and the appointment of graduate trainee Alex Wroe to a newly created analyst position.
Tim Thomas, head of equities, said: “We have been carefully considering the expansion of Morley’s UK equity team by the recruitment of additional quality people. The equities market has been rapidly polarising into core, lower-risk products and satellite, higher-alpha offerings. Morley manages around Ł27bn in UK equities on behalf of clients, accounting for almost 2% of the UK stock market. As a player of that scale we need to be able to offer a strong range of credible higher alpha products as well as traditional core products.
“Chris’ appointment reflects the seriousness of our intentions in the high alpha space. His appointment is a sign of confidence in Morley and its future direction and we anticipate making further announcements in the coming weeks.”
Morley’s chief investment officer, Katherine Garrett-Cox, said: “Our talent strategy has three core components: active recruitment, managing existing staff progressively, and advancing quality people from inside. We are pleased that Morley is attracting leading fund managers like Chris Murphy, developing young talent such as Alex Wroe and providing new opportunities for quality team members such as Dan Roberts.”
Chris Murphy joins Morley from Axa Framlington where he has been working as a fund manager since 1993, most recently responsible for running growth mandated portfolios for institutional and retail clients. Chris previously worked as a utilities analyst at James Capel (1990-92) and at Shearson Lehman (1988-90).
Chris has managed the Framlington UK Growth Fund which delivered first quartile performance in 2005 (Standard & Poor’s as at 28-03-06). At Morley he will be managing the Norwich UK Equity Fund.
Dan Roberts from Morley’s UK Core team has moved to the UK Specialist team as fund manager. He is running the flagship Norwich UK Equity Income Fund.
Alex Wroe, who has been a graduate trainee at Morley since December 2004, has been appointed Analyst for the UK Core team. He is covering the General Retail sector.
Chris and Dan will report to David Lis, head of UK specialist equities. Alex will report to Lloyd Whitworth, head of UK core equities.
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For further information please contact:
Straham Wallis
Morley Fund Management
Corporate Communications
Telephone: 020 7803 8618
E-mail: strahan.wallis@morleyfm.com
Beth Saint
Morley Fund Management
Corporate Communications
Telephone: 020 7803 8125
E-mail: beth.saint@morleyfm.com
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 Ł155bn from offices around the world as at 31 January 2005.
- 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
- SRI Provider of the Year, Global Pensions 2006
- 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
- Insurance Fund Manager of the Year (awarded to Norwich Union) - Standard and Poor’s 2002
- Sustainable and Ethical Investment and Asset Management Award - Liveable City Awards 2002
Further information about Morley Fund Management can be found at www.morleyfm.com
Note: telephone calls may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes.
Morley Fund Management is a business name of Morley Fund Management Limited, registered in England No. 1151805. Registered Office: No. 1 Poultry, London EC2R 8EJ. Authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Services Authority and a member of the Investment Management Association.
Morley Fund Management is also a business name of Morley Fund Services Limited and Morley Fund Management International Limited. All are Aviva companies.
Contact us at Morley Fund Management, No. 1 Poultry, London EC2R 8EJ.