UK-based asset manager Threadneedle has appointed former LV= Asset Management head of product development Julian Thomas as a director of product development in a new company role.

In other recent hires, Giles Gilbertson, who previously worked as an IMS chief investment officer, joined the firm on 1 November as head of multi-manager. At the start of the month Threadneedle also hired Neil Robson as a fund manager within its global equities team, appointing him as lead manager of the Luxembourg-based Threadneedle Global Focus Fund.

Closely following this appointment, the firm set out the structure of the LV= retail funds, which were subsequently transferred to Threadneedle. This was after LV= announced in August that it had entered a long-term partnership with Threadneedle, a move which saw it outsource management of £8 billion ($13 billion) of assets and external funds.