Rob Ford and Gary Kirk, founding partners at boutique fixed income investment firm TwentyFour Asset Management, are retiring in September.
Both will move into advisory roles at the firm, also stepping away from the investment committee.
Ford told GlobalCapital that while he would no longer be managing a portfolio, he would continue to advocate for TwentyFour AM and the wider industry with the "passion" that has defined his career, which began in the late 1980s.
“I’ve had two passions in my professional life," he said. "One is promoting the securitization industry, making it better, stronger and more accessible. My second passion is flying the flag for TwentyFour Asset Management, the business which I helped to co-found 15 years ago and have since helped build from zero to over €20bn equivalent AUM today.
"Having the opportunity to continue doing that is going to help both those things to continue to thrive.”
Ford, alongside Kirk and others, helped co-found the business out of the ashes of the global financial crisis in 2008 to become a leading investment firm in securitization and fixed income more broadly.
Preparation for their eventual retirement has been underway, with Ford's UK Mortgage Ltd fund moving into the TwentyFour Income Fund last year and led by fellow partners, Doug Charleston and Aza Teeuwen.
Meanwhile, Kirk's Multi Sector Bond fund has four other partners that co-manage the portfolio.
Ford received GlobalCapital's Outstanding Contribution to Securitization award in 2021 and is considered one of the most prominent voices in the industry.
He believes the move to an advisory role will give him space to continue to bang the drum for securitization to help it overcome the many hurdles that remain.
“I’m going to have a little more time to focus on some of that advocacy but I’m also looking forward to having a couple of hours longer in bed every day," he said.
"But it’s definitely not goodbye.”