iShares prepares for growth post sale

US- Officials at iShares are making plans to fill vacant key roles and potentially shuffle its non-US personnel, as it breaks away from parent company Barclays and positions itself for overseas growth.

Rory Tobin, global co-chief executive at exchange traded fund company iShares, says the firm will look for external candidates to fill some high-level positions, like that of a chief financial officer, which used to be covered by Barclays.

Tobin told Global Pensions he and global co-chief executive Mike Latham “will spend time evaluating the organisational structure and how we will position the team.”

However, no changes will be made until the ‘go-shop provision’ has passed, a clause in the sale that allows other bidders to make offers for the business for the next 45 days. Barclays will begin accepting competing bids tomorrow.

On Thursday, Barclays announced the sale of iShares for $4.4bn to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, as it moved to raise cash and avoid joining the UK government’s asset protection scheme. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009. (Global Pensions, 4 April 2009)

Tobin says the portfolio management team will remain intact, particularly in the US. “On the investment side, the transfer of the portfolio management and trading is dependent on location. We’re moving the entire portfolio management team in the US to the iShares business from the start.”

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