Richard Saldanha is returning to Aviva Investors after a month at Royal London Asset Management (RLAM). He will be reinstated as lead manager of the £689m Aviva Investors Global Equity Income fund and will report to Isabel Emo Capodilista, head of equities.
The FE fundinfo Alpha Manager joined RLAM in November along with his former Aviva colleagues Matt Kirby and Francois de Bruin. Saldanha briefly became lead manager of the Royal London Global Equity Income fund and deputy manager of the Royal London Global Equity Select fund.
Richard Marwood, RLAM’s head of UK and European equities, will manage the Royal London Global Equity Income fund henceforth, alongside Kirby and Paul Schofield. The latter joined RLAM in September from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where he was co-head of global equity.
The Royal London Global Equity Select fund will continue to be led by de Bruin with support from Schofield.
Saldanha was drafted in to replace Nico de Walden, who left RLAM in April with several colleagues, including head of equities Peter Rutter and fund managers James Clarke, Chris Parr and Will Kenney. They are establishing a boutique investment firm with backing from Australia’s Pinnacle Investment Management.
Marwood managed the Global Equity Income fund in the interim period between de Walden’s departure and Saldanha’s appointment.
Mike Fox, who replaced Rutter as head of equities, has put in place a new leadership team comprising Schofield and Marwood, alongside Matt Burgess, who oversees passive and quantitative strategies, and fund manager George Crowdy.
Saldanha has managed the Aviva Investors Global Equity Income fund since November 2013 and its performance is top quartile over one, three and five years.
Performance of fund vs index and benchmark during Saldanha’s tenure
Source: FE Analytics
The fund is the second-best performer in the IA Global Equity Income sector from 21 November 2013 until 31 October 2024. It is one of only four funds in its peer group to outperform the MSCI All Country World Index in sterling terms during that time.