Businessman Martin Gilbert has hired a friend to lead his "refocused" asset management firm River & Mercantile (R&M) after he snapped the group up in January. Alex Hoctor-Duncan will head up R&M, which has £4bn assets under management. Hoctor-Duncan, who previously worked at investment firm Aberdeen Standard, will take over as chief executive from James Barham. Gilbert's Aim-listed Assetco announced its acquisition of R&M in a £98.8m takeover deal last week.Gilbert is best known for founding Aberdeen Asset Management, where he turned it into one of the biggest fund managers in London.

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