Jeremy Podger, manager of two retail funds for Investec Asset Mangement, has joined the global equity team at Threadneedle Investments, one of its first hires since it was sold to American Express for £340m (€478m) earlier this year.

At Threadneedle, Podger will join the global equity team headed by Dominic Rossi. Fund management companies are beefing up their global equity offerings as pension funds look to increase their exposure to overseas markets and diversify out of domestic equities.