Irina Miklavchich appointed manager of Threadneedle Global Emerging Markets Equity Fund

Threadneedle, a leading international asset manager, has named Irina Miklavchich as fund manager of the £130m Threadneedle Global Emerging Markets Equity Fund from 1 May 2011, following her appointment to the company in February this year.

The fund has been co-managed by Vanessa Donegan, Head of Asia (ex Japan) and Global Emerging Markets Equities, and Rafael Polatinsky, Fund Manager, since September 2010. They will continue to support Irina with idea generation for the asset class through Threadneedle’s integrated team approach.

Irina joined Threadneedle earlier this year from Goldman Sachs where she worked for eight years within the Global Emerging Markets and Principal Strategies groups. She will be taking responsibility for other Emerging Markets portfolios at a later stage.

Irina Miklavchich comments: “The Threadneedle Global Emerging Markets Equity Fund has already achieved a solid track record of outperformance over both the short and longer term and I am excited to be working within an experienced team whose clearly defined investment process benefits from Threadneedle’s culture of cross asset class collaboration. 

“The last few years have seen emerging market equities move from being a small ‘alternative’ allocation within investors’ portfolios to become an essential part of any diversified investment strategy, as investors recognise the huge long-term growth potential available in these economies. Healthy sovereign balance sheets across emerging markets, especially when compared to the poor state of finances in the developed world, has provided investors with more confidence in this asset class. We see domestic consumption and corporate investment as two key drivers for emerging markets and look for opportunities to benefit from these structural trends.”

Threadneedle’s Asia (ex Japan) and Emerging Markets Equities team is headed by Vanessa Donegan and manages over £6.1bn in assets. The team comprises eight dedicated investment professionals including Daniel Isidori who joined last month as a Latin America fund manager.