Manduca tipped for Deutsche top job

TOP fund manager Paul Manduca is tipped to become chief executive of Deutsche Asset Management in Europe following a shake-up at Rothschild, his current employer.

Rothschild plans to hive off its asset management division, which has £13bn of funds, and concentrate on private banking and wealth management instead. It may sell the asset management side or put it into a joint venture.

Manduca, 50, is one of the City's best-known fund managers after spells at Touche Remnant, Hill Samuel and Threadneedle Asset Management, but the moves at Rothschild leave him without a proper job. He had ambitious plans to modernise the Five Arrows brand, representing the five original Rothschild brothers.

Fluent in German, Manduca is understood to have held talks with Deutsche, but no contracts have been signed. He will stay at Rothschild until the end of the year to oversee the overhaul.