Ian Manton-Hall, head of Hermes Fund Managers’ domestic sales office, has enlisted a former Fortis colleague to help market the many boutiques run by the UK manufacturer.

Stephanie Hukins will join Hermes next Monday in a distribution role, Manton-Hall confirmed, leaving her marketing role at BNP Investment Partners (BNP IP) to join Hermes’ Sydney office, its second offshore base.

BNP IP completed its takeover of Fortis Investments, where Manton-Hall was domestic CEO and Hukins worked in a marketing position, earlier this year.

Manton-Hall and Hukins will endeavour to expand Hermes’ client base in Australia beyond HESTA and VicSuper, which have mandated investee engagement service, and also occasionally pursue fundraising leads more broadly in the region.

Their message will be that Hermes, a multi-boutique which manages the assets of the BT Pension Scheme and is fully owned by the fund, is a transparent and aligned manufacturer.

“While we want to raise assets, the delivery of alpha will be more important because the [BT] pension fund has assets in there: getting the extra 1 per cent of alpha is better than getting more assets under management,” Manton-Hall said.

Hermes’ hedge fund-of-funds business, Hermes BPK Partners, will still be marketed domestically by Neil Wild, an arrangement pre-dating Manton-Hall’s appointment, the domestic chief said.

The Sydney office follows Hermes’ move into Boston as the manager’s second offshore base.

Hermes manages £24.6 billion from 180 clients worldwide, in strategies ranging from private equity, real estate, hedge fund-of-funds, fixed income, engagement and specialist equities.