LGIMA Eyes Strategic Growth Opportunities; Launches US Index Fund Business

CHICAGO, Dec. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Legal & General Investment Management America, Inc. (LGIMA), a Chicago-based registered investment advisor, announced the official launch of its US index fund management business. As part of a broader strategic growth plan, the new unit builds on the capabilities and management strategies already provided for the US pension and institutional markets while expanding on its core fixed-income and liability-driven offerings. 

The US index fund management business will leverage a model that has proved successful by its UK-based affiliate, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), which is already a major provider of index fund management services in Europe and Asia with over $466 billion of index funds under management as of September 30, 2014.

Mike Craston, CEO of LGIMA, said: "Indexing is an important component in our sophisticated approach to implementing a cost effective and customized derisking strategy for our pension and institutional clients. Over the past year we have brought together some of the best and brightest in the industry to help develop a US index fund business that provides the institutional pension market with a fresh alternative, diverse product offering, and level of service that is centered on transparency - free from those conflicts of interest encountered in asset management firms which are also involved in banking custody, fund accounting, or securities lending."

To ensure a successful global launch, the company recently assumed $60 billion in pension assets from UK-based LGIM - more than doubling its assets under management - and added two experienced members to the index fund team. LGIM's Drew Miyawaki, Head of Global Equity Trading, and Aodhagan Byrne, Index Portfolio Manager, have joined Chad Rakvin, Head of US Index Funds, and Shaun Murphy, Director, Index Funds, to lead the initiative.

"We expect the movement from traditional active management to index and alternative beta strategies will continue to accelerate, driven by the investor's increasing appetite for transparency and lower cost implementation," said Chad Rakvin. "There is an uptick in demand for these strategies in a solutions backdrop. Our core offerings of active fixed income, liability driven investing, and index management provide the perfect platform for delivering sophisticated solutions to institutional investors."

For more information, please visit http://www.lgima.com/.

Notes to editors: Legal & General Investment Management America, Inc. (LGIMA) is a Chicago-based 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 $770 billion.

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SOURCE Legal & General Investment Management America, Inc.

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http://www.lgima.com