By Trevor Hunnicutt
NEW YORK (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc (N:BLK) on Tuesday said it reshuffled the managers of some of its most important investment units, including its stock and bond picking businesses, according to a memo seen by Reuters.
The world's largest asset manager is combining its two stock picking business into one unit that reports directly to BlackRock President Rob Kapito.
The company also said it would unify its global fixed-income business under one leader, Tim Webb, and shift a senior executive, Rich Kushel, into a position as head of multi-asset strategies, which includes products that straddle investment styles.
Ken Kroner, who had overseen multi-asset strategies and the "scientific active equity" group, plans to retire this year after serving as an adviser through the remainder of the year, according to the memo.
Under Kroner, the company had been working to better use data analysis and other quantitative methods to improve investment performance not just in that "scientific" unit but within the rest of the firm's equity business - where the company's performance had struggled - as well as in fixed income.
New York-based BlackRock, with $4.5 trillion in assets under management, also is unifying its global fixed-income business under the leadership of Tim Webb, who rises to global head of fixed income, and Rick Rieder, a well-known investor who is becoming chief investment officer of global fixed income, according to the memo.