Baillie Gifford hires new partners from outside

Ken Barker will lead the development of the fixed income business, Stephen Rodger is set to head the credit team and Peter Haddon will work towards developing emerging markets and North American business.

The latest appointments take the number of partners at Baillie Gifford to 33. Although they have been with the 55.5bn Edinburgh-based fund manager for some time, the new partners didn't join Baillie Gifford as graduate trainees - a policy of internal promotion that the firm prides itself on.

Rodger and Haddon signed up to Baillie Gifford in 2000, with Barker joining in 2001 from BNP Paribas.

Alex Callander, joint senior partner, said the firm is still keen to bring talent up through the ranks, but it was able to tap the skills that the new partners gained at other firms.

"They bring experience and perspective that is invaluable as we deepen our expertise in existing investment products such as fixed income and grow in important markets such as North America," he said.

Does this mean fund managers trained at other firms are also in with a chance of penetrating Baillie Gifford? Maybe.

Richard Fletcher, managing director of Edinburgh headhunter Fletcher Jones, says: "Obviously firms like Baillie Gifford and Standard Life Investments want to show that you can have a successful career there, but they also want to demonstrate that promotion is not automatic, just because you've been there for a certain period of time."