GLOBAL – Thornburg Investment Management (TIM) has opened a client service office in London in a bid to increase global distribution of its investment products.

The new London office is the first outside the US for the Santa-Fe headquartered global asset manager.

It has appointed Chris Elsmark and Karim Elfar to the newly created positions of joint managing directors in London.

They will head up the new London-based subsidiary, Thornburg Global Advisors LLP, which will cater for the firm's institutional and financial intermediary business internationally.

Elsmark said: "As a firm, we are happy to play the long game and will continue to build our global client activities in a methodical fashion.

"Having a London presence underlines our commitment to our clients both in terms of communication and flexibility – being around when the clients want us to be there."

TIM already manages $5bn (€3.8bn) of its $86bn in total assets under management for investors outside the US, Elsmark said, adding that it expected this international portion to grow.

The firm is focusing on a number of different distribution channels in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as building on efforts made so far in Japan and Canada.  

It has been speaking recently to two sovereign wealth funds – in the Middle East and in Asia, he said.

Elsmark and Elfar will report to Peter Trevisani, Thornburg's head of global distribution and president of Thornburg Global Investment, the group's Irish-domiciled UCITS range of investment funds.

Elsmark joins TIM from Copthall Partners, where he was senior adviser to many investment management firms.

Before that, he was head of institutional business at Scottish Widows Investment Partnerships.

Elfar was previously managing director and head of international for Davis Advisors, after roles within Merrill Lynch.