CSAM portfolio manager defects

Resources specialist joins HK hedge fund

By Charlie Corbett
Tue 07 Aug 2007

CSAM suffered yet another blow to its Australian equities team as resources specialist Kenneth Wan took a job in Hong Kong.

Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) has lost yet another portfolio manager in the form of resources specialist Kenneth Wan.

Wan, who was on the Australian equities team, left the firm last Friday after six years at CSAM.

He joins hedge fund Citadel in Hong Kong where he will manage a long-short Australian equities fund.

A spokesperson for CSAM said yesterday the firm was actively seeking a replacement for Wan.

Until then Australian equities head Steve Guibin and deputy head of Australian equities Richard Kornman will undertake Wan's duties.

Morningstar funds analyst Mark Laidlaw said he was not surprised by the departure of Wan, but it was likely to be the last.

"Steve [Guibin] has been given the mandate to build the team and to take them forward. This might take time . . . but CSAM is definitely committed to making the Australian equities team work," he said.

Laidlaw also said he expected CSAM to hire more senior staff in the near future.

Like many of the larger fund managers, CSAM has suffered staff defections from across its asset management teams in 2007.

Steven Guibin joined from Schroders as head of CSAM's Australian equities team in May after the former head Andrew Fleming left.

Fleming then took Guibin's job at Schroders.

CSAM's head of product and marketing Peter Chun also left last month to join Macquarie's Private Wealth Division.

However, it has not been all one way traffic for CSAM this year.

The firm managed to poach ING Investment Management's entire small caps team in May after small caps specialists Stephen Atkinson and Matthew Booker left to join boutiques.

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