Octopus Investments, part of the Octopus Group, has appointed Sian Roberts as head of UK institutional distribution.
Roberts joins from BlackRock, where she spent over six years fundraising for the group’s alternatives platform, most recently as a director in the multi-alternatives product strategy team. Previously, she worked at Partners Group in the investment solutions team, as an investment manager at Railpen and in Schroders’ multi-asset team, starting her career at JPMorgan.
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Reporting to Caroline Turner, global head of institutional sales and consultant relations, Roberts will focus on bolstering the UK sales effort, supporting fundraising efforts for several funds, including the Octopus Affordable Housing Fund, the Octopus Sustainable Infrastructure Fund and the Octopus Healthcare Fund.
Turner said: “One of our biggest ambitions is to grow our assets under management from £13bn to £50bn by 2030. We expect that a large proportion of this growth to come from our institutional business.
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This appointment underlines the strategic importance of the institutional business, helping the firm expand its distribution capabilities within the UK, which continues to be our core focus market, added Turner.
Roberts commented: “Octopus Investments is an agile and energetic business with a record of going into specialist investment areas and making a real difference in society. I look forward to supporting its mission of building institutional products trying to solve the biggest problems.”
