Neuberger Berman has hired a six-strong team of European fixed income investment professionals from BNP Paribas Asset Management.

Consisting of five portfolio managers and one quantitative analyst, the US manager’s new team is led by Patrick Barbe, who was chief investment officer of Euro sovereign and aggregate fixed income at the French asset manager.

According to a statement from Neuberger Berman, Barbe was responsible for managing around €49bn in assets at BNP Paribas.

Joining Barbe in making the switch to employee-owned Neuberger Berman were portfolio managers Yanick Loirat, Vito Cavaliere, Antonio Serpico, and Sergejs Prala, and quantitative analyst Leang You Tran.

Neuberger Berman said the new unit would be based in Paris and was joining as the asset manager intended to launch a number of European fixed income funds and strategies in the coming months.

Commenting on the hires, Brad Tank, chief fixed income investment officer at Neuberger Berman, said: “Patrick Barbe and his colleagues are recognised leaders in European fixed income investing.  Their expertise enhances and strengthens our integrated, global fixed income franchise.”

As of July this year Neuberger Berman’s global fixed income platform had $133bn (€115bn) in assets under management, the manager said.