M&G fund manager and chief investment officer of fixed income, Jim Leaviss is stepping down to pursue a career in academia, with Andrew Chorlton, head of fixed income at Schroders, replacing him at the helm of M&G’s £139bn fixed income division later this year.
Leaviss has worked at M&G for 27 years and managed the $1.1bn M&G Global Macro Bond fund since inception in 1999. He also manages the Global Government Bond strategy.
Eva Sun-Wai and Rob Burrows will become co-lead managers of the Global Macro Bond strategy on 1 August 2024. Sun-Wai has co-managed the strategy since January 2021 alongside Leaviss and is also the lead manager of the Global Government Bond strategy.
Burrows is a fund manager specialising in government bond and macro fixed income mandates and has worked for M&G since 2007.
Darius McDermott, managing director of FundCalibre, is downgrading the Global Macro Bond fund from Elite Rated to Elite Radar as a result of the manager changes. “We have known Leaviss for many years as he has been a huge part of the success behind the fixed income franchise at M&G,” he said.
Chorlton has more than 25 years of experience including a decade at Schroders and has managed global fixed income, US multi-sector and credit strategies. He also led the development of a range of fixed income strategies, including sustainability, quantitative credit, semi-liquid credit, emerging market debt, tax-aware and opportunistic strategies and active exchange-traded funds.
Joseph Pinto, chief executive officer of M&G Investments, said: “With Chorlton’s vast experience as both a fund manager and as a leader, we have appointed a fixed income heavyweight who will lead this highly experienced team at a time where we expect significant opportunities to materialise within bond markets as the rate cycle starts to move.”
He also paid tribute to Leaviss, who he said “has delivered excellent returns for our clients”. He also praised the outgoing fund manager’s “unique way of communicating”, which included “sharing the team’s insights straight from the desk”.
Leaviss himself highlighted M&G’s culture of innovation, having launched the UK’s first pure corporate bond fund in 1994, the first high-yield corporate bond fund in 1998, and then the M&G Optimal Income Fund in 2006, which became one of the largest funds in Europe.