Ashburton Investments, the investment management arm of the FirstRand Group, has strengthened its equity research capabilities by hiring Robert Lea as head of global equity research.
The newly created global equity research team will provide analysis for the equity solutions range as well as Ashburton’s multi-asset strategy which has been running for over 30 years.
Ashburton is bolstering its equity research function to provide its investment managers with further in-depth analysis. Lea will head up the new team, with Jonathan Aldrich-Blake moving from his current role of Investment Manager at Ashburton to join the newly created team.
Ashburton’s equity fund range includes the focussed Global Leaders Equity Fund, as well as the specialist equity range which includes the India, Energy and Chindia funds. They are all managed from Jersey.
Jonathan Schiessl, chief investment officer at Ashburton Investments (International), says: “We are excited to bring somebody with Robert’s calibre of equity research and analysis in London and Asia to Jersey, enabling Ashburton to create what we believe is a unique research capability.”
Lea says: “I am delighted to be part of a company which is clearly focussed on building upon years of heritage with a new research team. I have worked in many of the markets in which Ashburton specialises and I look forward to contributing to the ongoing success of the investment range.”
Lea was previously a global equity research sector head and strategist at UBS. He spent eight years working in Asia and was top three ranked in the Extel/ II surveys of institutional fund managers, in both the European and Asian markets. He also spent a period managing a pan-Asian equities portfolio at UBS’s Fundamental Investment Group in Hong Kong.
