Eastspring has hired a top investment figure from a prominent asset management house.

Eastspring Investments, the $140 billion Asian investment management arm of Prudential Corporation Asia, has appointed a former equities chief investment officer at PIMCO as its new CIO.

The appointee, Virgini Maisonneuve, reports to chief executive Guy Strapp. She starts the role on 11 January 2017, the firm said in a statement yesterday.

Strapp was previously CIO; he stood down from that role to focus on leading the expanded business, a spokesperson confirmed to this publication.

Maisonneuve has almost 30 years of global asset management experience. She was most recently CIO of equities at PIMCO. Earlier, she was head of global equities, director and portfolio manager for more than 10 years at Schroders. She has been a portfolio manager at a number of asset management firms, including Clay Finlay, State Street Research, Batterymarch and Martin Currie. 

While managing funds directly, Maisonneuve was a top rated fund manager and one of the first investors to launch a China equity fund in the US. 

Eastspring operates in 10 Asian markets. It also has offices in North America and Europe.