LGIMA expands its US Index team with addition of two key employees

CHICAGO, Oct. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Legal & General Investment Management America, Inc. (LGIMA), a Chicago-based SEC-registered investment advisor, announce that Drew Miyawaki, Head of Global Equity Trading for UK based counterpart Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and Aodhagan Byrne, Index Portfolio Manager (LGIM) have joined LGIMA from LGIM, a leading provider of index fund management services to clients in Europe and Asia with over $483 billion of index funds under management as of June 30, 2014.  LGIMA is extending LGIM's index capabilities to US clients.

Chad Rakvin, Head of U.S. Index Funds for LGIMA, said: "These moves strengthen the position of our US index fund management business and are part of a broader expansion of the LGIMA footprint, bringing global expertise to the growing roster of pension and institutional clients. Legal & General will use this expansion into the US and Asia as an opportunity to evolve and align its fund management and trading model with its global vision. Under the new model, we will be able to provide local expertise and global coverage for all of our clients."

"We are making strategic moves that support our global vision for the company and solidify LGIMA's position as a leader in the US investment market," said Mike Craston, CEO of LGIMA.  "Drew and Aodhagan's move demonstrates to the market that we are not solely a UK index provider; rather we are a global firm that is nimble and flexible enough to redeploy its talent in markets where there is an immediate need and an opportunity to service institutional clients." 

"LGIMA is in a growth mode and a key component is bringing talent to Chicago, and mobilizing our equities capabilities under one global desk," said Rakvin. "The move to a global trading model will put our traders closer to the market and, more generally, supports our move to create a truly global index business."

In his role, Miyawaki will oversee equities trading and be directly responsible for execution of all North American equities and Byrne will manage North American Index strategies at LGIMA.  Both report locally to Chad Rakvin working alongside Shaun Murphy, director of index funds.

Chad joined LGIMA in 2013 as Head of US Index Funds from Northern Trust Global Investments, where he was Managing Director of Global Equity Index. Chad is responsible for developing the US index fund management business for LGIMA. 

Miyawaki joined LGIM in December 2011 from Knight Capital where he held the title of Director of Global Program Trading.  Prior to that, he was the head of international trading at Liquidnet, where he helped build the electronic trade offering of the global crossing network. Drew started his career in 2000, when he worked in numerous trading capacities in algorithmic and program trading at US broker/dealer Jefferies.  Miyawaki holds a BSc Behavioral Science from Drew University.

Byrne joined the LGIM Index Funds team in February 2012. Previously, he spent seven years as an index fund manager with Irish Life Investment Managers. Based in Dublin, he managed both equity and fixed income funds. Prior to managing funds, Aodhagan worked for five years as a software engineer with Xilinx.

For further information, please contact:

Name: Mike Boccio
Title: RF Binder
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 212 994 7627

Notes to editors: Legal & General Investment Management America, Inc. (LGIMA) is a Chicago-based SEC-registered investment advisor specializing in fixed income and liability driven investment (LDI) strategies for the US institutional market. LGIMA was founded in 2006 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Legal & General Investment Management (Holdings) Ltd., which also owns its affiliates Legal & General Investment Management Ltd. and LGIM International Ltd. Legal & General's worldwide assets under management are approximately $795 billion, as of June 30, 2014.

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SOURCE Legal & General Investment Management America, Inc.