Schroders poaches team of four from Invista

The chief executive of Invista Real Estate Investment Management and three of his team have joined Schroders’ property funds arm.

Duncan Owen will take on the role of head of property funds, reporting to William Hill, head of property for the group.

A trio of his former colleagues have also moved to Schroders - Nick Montgomery, head of UK commercial funds; Melinda Knatchbull, head of fund accounting; and Andrew Macdonald, fund director.

In October last year Schroders won the mandate to manage the Invista Foundation Property trust, previously run by Invista.

Handing the mandate to Schroders will save the trust an annual £1.8m in costs, the board estimates.

Andrew Sykes, chairman of the trust, said: "Following this period of transition, the board now looks forward to working with the enlarged Schroders team to drive the company's strategy to deliver long-term value to shareholders."

Schroders runs £9.5bn in property assets, including the £532m Global Property Securities fund, managed by Jim Rehlaender, and the recently launched Global Property Income Maximiser.