Boutique fund manager adds distribution role

Boutique investment manager Maple-Brown Abbott has appointed Vijay Srinivasan to the newly created role of national key account manager to help drive the firm's distribution efforts.

In the new role, Srinivasan will report to Duncan Hodnett the head of global distribution at the boutique investment manager.

He joins from Colonial First State where he spent more than five years working firstly as a strategic account manager and then as head of strategic accounts.

Before that, he was the national key account manager at Blackrock and previously worked as a national account manager at Barclays Global Investors and adviser development manager at BT Financial Group.

Maple-Brown Abbot chief executive Sophia Rahmani said the firm is expanding its internal distribution capability to further focus on building relationships in the wealth management channel for its existing Australian and Asian equity funds as well as the recently launched Australian Value Opportunities and Asian Dividend Growth funds.

"This is our first internal role dedicated to building our presence and profile in Australia covering financial advisers, dealer groups, platforms, and key accounts," she said.

"Building on nearly 40 years' managing Australian equities and almost 20 years' in Asian equities, we have a rich heritage providing innovative investment solutions for our clients and feel we are in a good position to add value to clients' investment portfolios.

"Mr Srinivasan's track record as a strategic sales leader in the wealth management industry and his strong relationships across market segments make him ideal to help us form strong relationships and build on our existing presence."

Maple-Brown Abbott is also launching a global emerging market equity strategy which is expected to be available to investors by mid-2022.

Ironbark Asset Management will continue to be the distribution partner for Maple-Brown Abbott Global Listed Infrastructure for the wealth management channel.