Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI) has hired former BlackRock manager Rob Weatherston to run its offshore Japanese Equity fund.
Weatherston will take over the £40m Dublin-domiciled vehicle on 17 June from the global equities team and will report to Josh Crabb (pictured), head of the Hong Kong-based Asian equities team.
The manager previously spent eight years managing Japanese and Asia Pacific equity funds at BlackRock, before leaving the firm in 2014. He was in charge of the £168m BGF Japan Flexible Equity fund and spent time living in Tokyo, before relocating to Hong Kong in 2010.
OMGI transforms Asian Equity fund into income strategy
Josh Crabb, head of Asian equities, said: "OMGI has been steadily building its presence in the Asia Pacific region over the last two years and the addition of Rob to the team means that we now invest across all major Asian equity markets.
"Throughout his career managing Japanese equities, Rob has had extensive experience of running total return, value and growth investments and, having lived in Japan for four years, his considerable knowledge of the region's social and cultural history will be invaluable to investors."
The firm, which is part of Old Mutual Wealth, added Weatherston has a flexible and pragmatic investment approach, with the ability to adapt his investment style to suit a particular stage of the market cycle.
He will use three methods to generate alpha for the fund: qualitative stock selection, and a quantitative screening process combined with a thematic overlay.
Weatherston said: "While the overall Japanese market is currently out of favour, there are many stocks that are performing very well. We see significant opportunities to generate returns within the market.
"I believe that our unique three-pronged approach, which aims to deliver a high return fund, is likely to be highly rewarding for long term investors."
OMGI recently announced it would be closing the onshore Japanese Equity fund, after assets fell to £16m.
