ING Investment Management has found the first replacement member for its Australian equities team, several of which departed to run a boutique in June.

David Langford, a former Australian equities senior researcher on the Lehman Brothers sell-side, has started at ING IM as a senior equities analyst. Langford is ING IM’s first hire since the departure of Paul Cuddy and Mark East, who together had run the Australian equities portfolios since 2004. The pair left, along with analysts Michael Chun and Michael Malseed, to run an Australian equities boutique backed by incubator Bennelong Group. In the interim, ING IM’s chief investment officer of asset strategies and alternatives, James Wright, has covered the responsibilities of the Australian equities team with the assistance of two of the company’s senior portfolio managers from overseas, Guy Uding from Asia and Tycho van Wijk. It is understood more permanent replacements are to be announced soon.