Mr Kopczynski, formerly associate manager of credit and ESG, has taken his new role as the company has recognised a comprehensive inclusion of ESG factors in bottom-up research in recent years.
He will be held responsible for the team’s ESG framework, company engagement, investor advocacy and the firm’s steering committees.
Mr Kuhadas has joined the company from Melbourne boutique asset manager River Capital, where he was a credit analyst for 12 years.
He will directly report to Jay Sivapalan, head of Australian fixed interest.
Mr Sivapalan said the fixed interest segment has experienced “significant growth and evolved over the past few years”, with an uptick in clients, products and assets under management.
“As we continue to serve our clients’ changing needs and expand our spectrum of contemporary investment solutions, we have added further resourcing in the area of credit research to help support this growth,” he said.
“Dinesh brings extensive credit research expertise to the team, with more than 19 years’ industry experience and 12 years specifically in credit analysis, which will further enhance our ability to deliver market-leading investment solutions for our clients.”
Speaking on Mr Kopczynski’s appointment, Mr Sivapalan added: “Investor preferences are evolving quickly in the area of ESG.”
“The ability to direct capital to shape company strategy and behaviour is also becoming more tangible as clients’ expectations will only increase in the years ahead.
“We feel that having a dedicated champion such as Ashley within our investment team will ensure best practice is critical to being at the forefront of these developments.”
Before River, Mr Kuhadas had gained earlier experience in financial services at Deloitte and PwC.
