Plamen Monovski is stepping down as chief investment officer of RenAsset Management of London after five years, according to Bloomberg.
Two other executives have also departed the emerging-markets firm. Adrian Harris, managing director of distribution, and fund manager Simon Fentham-Fletcher quit RenAsset to start Freedom Asset Management, according to a press statement released yesterday.
Monovski will continue to be part of the investment team focused on specific portfolios, said Frank Mosier, managing partner for Kazimir Partners, which acquired RenAsset in 2013. Monovski, who joined the firms London office in 2010 after managing an estimated $9 billion at BlackRock.
Bloomberg reports that; Mosier said the firm had discontinued certain peripheral investment products that were unsustainable or produced unacceptable performance. He said RenAsset, formerly known as Renaissance Asset Managers, is upgrading staff, especially in sales and marketing.
RenAsset and Kazimir manage a combined $1.2 billion, according to Mosier. Bloomberg estimated that RenAsset had an estimated $3 billion in assets under management in January 2103 before the economic crisis in Russia and the plunging crude oil prices.
Its no secret that dollar-based Russian funds are struggling, Fentham-Fletcher told Bloomberg. Investors are finding it hard not to redeem whatever they have left. Adrian and I are at an age where its about time we work for ourselves, and weve got an entrepreneurial itch to scratch.