Wells Fargo bond manager jumps ship, heads to Loomis Sayles

William Stevens was named a vice president and portfolio manager at Loomis Sayles.The position is new, said spokeswoman Meg Clough. He will build and head a team to run a new core bond strategy that will differ in investment style from other strategies in Loomis's current mainstay fixed-income lineup. Loomis is looking both externally, with the help of recruiters, and internally to build the team, which will aim to launch the new strategy within the next few months, she said. Mr. Stevens joins Loomis Sayles from Wells Capital Management, where he was a portfolio manager and co-head of its Montgomery Fixed Income investment strategies. A Wells Capital spokesman wasn't immediately available to discuss plans to replace Mr. Stevens. In an interview, Jae Park, chief investment officer of Loomis's fixed-income group, said Mr. Stevens, a 25-year fixed-income veteran, focuses on exploiting small relative value opportunities, minimizing duration and yield curve risks to deliver consistent, incremental returns between 60 and 80 basis points above the benchmark. That style — less aggressive than current Loomis offerings such as its multisector bond fund, which looks to beat the benchmark by 300 basis points — will broaden the range of offerings for Loomis clients, Mr. Park said. Douglas Appell is a reporter for Pensions & Investments, a sister pub to InvestmentNews.