(STJ.L) St James's Place PLC Buy/Sell

(Corrects spelling of Polar Capital co-founder's surname to Woolley from Wooley)

(Adds Gleacher Shacklock LLP, ICAP, Polar Capital and others)
Nov 3 (Reuters) - The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Tuesday. To inform us of other job changes, e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

Hedge fund group Polar Capital said chief executive Mark Kary will leave at the end of the year, with co-founder Tim Woolley taking charge as the cash-rich firm seeks to expand after a recovery in asset levels.

Gleacher Shacklock LLP, an independent corporate advisory firm, appointed Peter Alcaraz as a Senior Adviser. Peter would join next spring and work closely with partners Kieran Murphy and Angus Russell. Most recently, Alcaraz has been a Managing Director and head of the services sector team at Close Brothers Corporate Finance.

ICAP, an interdealer broker, appointed Gil Mandelzishas to its Global Executive Management Group. Mandelzishas is the CEO of Traiana Inc, an ICAP company.

ST JAMES'S PLACE
British wealth manager said it has appointed a chief investment officer to oversee a push to increase its funds under management. The company announced the appointment of Chris Ralph to the newly-created position alongside two other appointments to the investment committee.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch appointed Chong Lee Tan as head of Corporate and Investment Banking for Southeast Asia. Lee, who was previously with Goldman Sachs in Singapore, would join the bank in early 2010.

Heartwood, the independently owned wealth manager, appointed Giles Peel as head of Investment Communications. Peel will be based in the firm's London office and has joined from Coutts, where he was head of Investment Communications.

Foresight Group, an alternative asset manager, appointed Humberto Santillana as investment director of its Solar Team. Santillana would be initially based in Madrid. He joined from Fotowatio in Spain, where he was a director in the acquisitions and financing department.

Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd appointed Christine Montgomery and Neil Robson to its global equities team by the end of the year. Montgomery has joined Martin Currie from Edinburgh Partners and Robson from Pioneer Investments.

Arbuthnot Banking Group Plc appointed Dean Michael Proctor as Chief Executive of Arbuthnot Latham & Co. Ltd, the group's private banking division. Proctor was at Citibank for three years and most recently was managing director of wealth management and retail banking.

(Compiled by Shobhana Chadha in Bangalore) Keywords: FINANCIAL/MOVES (shobhana.chadha@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: shobhana.chadha.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

(Adds Gleacher Shacklock LLP, ICAP, Polar Capital and others)
Nov 3 (Reuters) - The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Tuesday. To inform us of other job changes, e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

Hedge fund group Polar Capital said chief executive Mark Kary will leave at the end of the year, with co-founder Tim Wooley taking charge as the cash-rich firm seeks to expand after a recovery in asset levels.

Gleacher Shacklock LLP, an independent corporate advisory firm, appointed Peter Alcaraz as a Senior Adviser. Peter will join next spring and work closely with partners Kieran Murphy and Angus Russell. Alcaraz is currently a Managing Director and head of the services sector team at Close Brothers Corporate Finance.

ICAP, an interdealer broker, appointed Gil Mandelzishas to its Global Executive Management Group. Mandelzishas is the CEO of Traiana Inc, an ICAP company.

ST JAMES'S PLACE
British wealth manager said it has appointed a chief investment officer to oversee a push to increase its funds under management. The company announced the appointment of Chris Ralph to the newly-created position alongside two other appointments to the investment committee.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch appointed Chong Lee Tan as head of Corporate and Investment Banking for Southeast Asia. Lee, who was previously with Goldman Sachs in Singapore, will join the bank in early 2010.

Heartwood, the independently owned wealth manager, appointed Giles Peel as head of Investment Communications. Peel will be based in the firm's London office and has joined from Coutts, where he was head of Investment Communications.

Foresight Group, an alternative asset manager, appointed Humberto Santillana as investment director of its Solar Team. Santillana would be initially based in Madrid. He joined from Fotowatio in Spain, where he was a director in the acquisitions and financing department.

Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd appointed Christine Montgomery and Neil Robson to its global equities team by the end of the year. Montgomery has joined Martin Currie from Edinburgh Partners and Robson from Pioneer Investments.

Arbuthnot Banking Group Plc appointed Dean Michael Proctor as Chief Executive of Arbuthnot Latham & Co. Ltd, the group's private banking division. Proctor was at Citibank for three years and most recently was managing director of wealth management and retail banking.

(Compiled by Shobhana Chadha in Bangalore) Keywords: FINANCIAL/MOVES (shobhana.chadha@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: shobhana.chadha.reuters.com@reuters.net)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

Nov 3 (Reuters) - The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Tuesday. To inform us of other job changes, e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.
ST JAMES'S PLACE
British wealth manager said it has appointed a chief investment officer to oversee a push to increase its funds under management. The company announced the appointment of Chris Ralph to the newly-created position alongside two other appointments to the investment committee.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch appointed Chong Lee Tan as head of Corporate and Investment Banking for Southeast Asia. Lee, who was previously with Goldman Sachs in Singapore, would join the bank in early 2010.

Heartwood, the independently owned wealth manager, appointed Giles Peel as head of Investment Communications. Peel will be based in the firm's London office and has joined from Coutts, where he was head of Investment Communications.

Foresight Group, an alternative asset manager, appointed Humberto Santillana as investment director of its Solar Team. Santillana would be initially based in Madrid. He joined from Fotowatio in Spain, where he was a director in the acquisitions and financing department.

Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd appointed Christine Montgomery and Neil Robson to its global equities team by the end of the year. Montgomery has joined Martin Currie from Edinburgh Partners and Robson from Pioneer Investments.

Arbuthnot Banking Group Plc appointed Dean Michael Proctor as Chief Executive of Arbuthnot Latham & Co. Ltd, the group's private banking division. Proctor was at Citibank for three years and most recently was managing director of wealth management and retail banking.

(Compiled by Shobhana Chadha in Bangalore) Keywords: FINANCIAL/MOVES (shobhana.chadha@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: shobhana.chadha.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

By Chris Vellacott

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - British wealth manager St James's Place Plc favours a market placing of Lloyds Banking Group's majority stake to avoid a trade sale or private equity buyout, the company said on Tuesday.
However St James's Place is not yet talking about the possible disposal to Lloyds, whose 60 percent stake has been mooted as a possible divestment candidate as the British bank attempts to wrestle itself away from state protection.
"When the time is right for us to talk about a separation then we'll talk about it," St James's Place Chief Executive David Bellamy said.
Bellamy told Reuters he viewed the company's independence as a priority and preferred the stake to be sold via a placing with a number of investors rather than be acquired by a trade or private equity buyer.
"Independence of management is the most important thing and we believe this is best served by the market ... The broader the share base the better," he said.
The shares fell after Bellamy mooted a share placing ahead of a straight sale, which could provide investors with a takeover premium. By 1030 GMT, the stock was down 3.1 percent at 253 pence. The shares have risen steadily from lows of around 150 pence at the end of April.
Lloyds said in a separate statement asset disposals would include Lloyds TSB Scotland, C&G branches, Intelligent Finance and the TSB brand, leaving the wealth management business in place for the time being.
Buyout houses such as TPG and Advent International had run their slide rules over the business in anticipation of disposals from Lloyds, sources familiar with the situation said.
CVC, Permira, Hellman & Friedman and other private equity firms have been pursuing financial services businesses, given banks' need to sell assets to improve balance sheets.
St James's Place is "firmly on the radar", one source said, stressing that no sale process is under way.

Bellamy was talking to Reuters after St James's Place announced the appointment of a chief investment officer to oversee a push to increase its funds under management.
Chris Ralph, who has worked at Fidelity International's fund of funds business, takes on a newly-created position alongside two other appointments to the investment committee.
Bellamy said the appointments form part of a move to increase the range of asset classes available to clients beyond its core long-equity investments base, incorporating more exposure to asset classes such as fixed income.
St James's Place also reported third-quarter new business numbers at the high end of analyst expectations on Tuesday.
Total new business on an annualised premium equivalent (APE) basis, calculated by adding new regular premiums to a tenth of new single premiums, was 104.6 million pounds ($171.1 million) up 3 percent from the period last year and compared with an analyst consensus of around 101.4 million.
Funds under management rose by 3.4 billion pounds during the quarter, reaching 20.3 billion, helped by improving investor confidence and buoyant markets.

(Additional reporting Simon Meads and Victoria Howley; Editing by David Holmes)

($1=.6115 Pound)

((For the Hedge Hub blog: http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub)) ((chris.vellacott@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0) 20 7542 3987; Reuters Messaging chris.vellacott.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) Keywords: STJAMES/ (For Global Investing: http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting)

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Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.