Western Asset Management, the fixed interest specialist subsidiary of Legg Mason, has seen the departure of fund manager Dipankar Shewaram, who leaves to pursue other opportunities, the firm said in a statement.

Head of global credit Mike Buchanan and Prashant Chandran, global head of derivatives, will take over portfolio management responsibilities for the Legg Mason Western Asset Global Credit Absolute Return Fund. They will be supported by the 52 investment professionals in Western Asset’s global credit team.  

“Given Western Asset’s approach to managing portfolios on a team basis, the loss of any single individual will not impact its management style or the implementation of the firm’s investment process,” the firm said.

The fund’s strategy will continuously focus on three main sources of expected return: credit alpha generation, credit beta generation and active interest rate management.

Shewaram joined Western Asset in 2009 from BlueBay where he spent seven years on the European investment grade desk. He had previously worked for ING Barings, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Asset Management as an emerging markets investment manager and strategist.

Western Asset has offices in Pasadena, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, New York, São Paulo, Singapore and Tokyo.