Legg Mason appoints new Head of UK Sales

Legg Mason Inc, one of the world’s largest active asset management firms with $728 billion AuM (NYSE:LM) based in Baltimore, has appointed Alexander Barry as Head of UK Sales. He will be based in London and will start in August 2017, reporting into Justin Eede, Head of Europe and Americas Distribution at Legg Mason.

Barry will lead Legg Mason’s distribution of a range of actively managed, UK and Dublin-domiciled equity, fixed income and alternative investment funds to the UK wholesale and institutional market.

He joins from J.P. Morgan Asset Management where he spent nearly 20 years in various sales positions, most recently as Senior Relationship Manager for Global Strategic Relationships. Previous positions include Head of UK Asset Manager Sales, where he was responsible for key client relationships with wealth managers, banks and fund of funds as well as Head of Retail Sales in the UK. Barry started his career in the sales team at Fidelity International.

In his new role, Barry will be responsible for a team of nine client facing professionals.

Commenting on the appointment, Justin Eede said: “Investors are increasingly looking for us to provide investment solutions and deeper insight into how to combine strategies to achieve their goals. Alex’s excellent reputation and extensive experience in growing and servicing key client relationships will be invaluable to Legg Mason as we look to expand the investment choices we deliver to our intermediary clients across the UK. We look forward to welcoming him on board.”

Alexander Barry commented: “Providing global investors with choice and offering compelling, actively managed solutions is key in an environment characterised by increased geopolitical and financial market uncertainty. Legg Mason’s affiliate model, which is designed to harness a diverse range of skills and solutions across a suite of independent, entrepreneurially minded asset managers, is uniquely placed to deliver investment excellence. I look forward to working with Justin and the Legg Mason team to continue to build on their success in the UK.”

Legg Mason has successfully completed four strategic acquisitions in the last fiscal year and offers active investment vehicles through an affiliate model of nine investment specialists including Western Asset, ClearBridge Investments, Brandywine Global, Royce&Associates, RARE Infrastructure, Martin Currie, QS Investors, Entrust Permal and Clarion Partners. In the recent quarter (Q4/2017) Legg Mason reported gross and net sales of $23.6B and $5.1B in the global retail distribution platform which were near all-time highs.