Specialist fixed income manager BlueBay Asset Management has appointed Stefano Colombo as director, institutional sales Italy.
It follows the appointment of Michele Giarrizzo as director, sales – retail distribution Italy in September last year.
Based in Milan, Colombo reports to Tommaso De Giuseppe, partner and head of sales for Italy.
He will focus on deepening relationships with institutional investors building on BlueBay’s existing client base; which includes pension funds, privatised social security funds, healthcare funds and banking foundations/not-for-profit institutions.
Colombo will be covering both sovereign and corporate debt across BlueBay’s six sub-asset classes, including investment grade, leveraged finance, emerging markets, multi-asset credit, structured credit and convertible bonds.
His appointment comes just over a year after the official opening of BlueBay’s Italian Branch in Milan, in January 2020.
Work history
Before joining BlueBay, Colombo held several senior roles based in Milan for various asset managers.
Most recently he was a sales director at Franklin Templeton, joining from predecessor firm Legg Mason Global Asset Management, where he was institutional business development director, Italy and Iberia.
He also previously worked for State Street Global Advisors.
Fixed income appeal
Speaking about the appointment, De Giuseppe said: “We are delighted Stefano has joined our team. We have been able to continue to grow organically in Italy in such a short space of time thanks to our culture that attracts the best in talent; as well as the rise in popularity for BlueBay’s style of active fixed income.
“The cult of benchmarking in fixed income has gone hand in hand with attractive bond indices performance. However, when there’s almost no income left in fixed income, investors are looking for specialists to add value and that’s where BlueBay’s strengths come in.
“We are not benchmark huggers by any stretch of the imagination. Hence why we are coming off a really strong year as a firm, with a 23% rise in total assets under management at the end of 2020. With the wealth of experience he brings, Stefano will be instrumental in building on this momentum and in serving the needs of our institutional clients leveraging off BlueBay’s range of solutions and capabilities.”
