One of Fortis Investments Australia’s former institutional salespeople, put off around Christmas as part of that shop’s absorption into BNP Paribas Investment Partners Australia, has resurfaced at another funds manager.

Martin Smith started last week at Goldman Sachs JBWere Asset Management (GSJBWAM), reporting to head of institutional business Philip Gardner.

Smith’s appointment represents something of an extenstion to GSJBWAM’s institutional sales reach, but also comes in the wake of Sean Reynolds – who was responsible for asset consultant relationships – moving to a role with the manager based in the US.

Gardner, who said he only met Smith for the first time during the interview process, would not comment on whether an external search firm was used, although it’s understood Collins Consulting may have been involved.

GSJBWAM has been enjoying success with its traditonal asset class offerings, with Gardner saying a $100 million institutional mandate had just been won for its core Australian equities product, while the London-based global government bond team won a place on the rejigged MLC debt portfolios, where global sovereigns have just been classified as a specialist asset class again, after being lumped into the general ‘global bond’ sector for some years.