Martin Currie names new sales director

Equity fund manager Martin Currie is moving Mike Gibb from its Edinburgh headquarters to Singapore as sales and client services director for Asia. He will replace Jean-Luc Eyssautier, who left the post in late May and is on gardening leave.

Gibbs is currently director of hedge-fund sales in Europe and Asia and will take up the new role on September 1. He will work closely with Kimon Kouryialas, Sydney-based head of pan-Asia sales and client services.

Eyssautier joined Martin Currie around March 2011 to replace Chen Ee-Fang, who had left for Northern Trust in October 2010.

Gibbs joined the firm in 2005 to work with the client services team, strengthening relationships with institutional clients in the UK, Asia and the Middle East. He then moved to the sales team in 2008.

Before that, he was a director and equity salesman at Credit Suisse First Boston. He was also an equity-research salesman at Salomon Smith Barney for four years and a Far East equities fund manager at Gartmore and Scottish Amicable from 1990 to 1995.

Martin Currie has had an Asian presence since 1997 when it opened an office in Shanghai, adding to this with an office in Australia in 2008 and Singapore the following year.

However, the firm has been through some turmoil in the past year or so. In September, Martin Currie and Singapore's APS Asset Management announced a strategic partnership whereby Martin Currie would introduce APS to its client base for China A-share investment strategies.

The move followed the departure of Martin Currie's long-standing China equity manager, Chris Ruffle, over an alleged conflict of interest.