De Mello to Leave Western Asset, Says “Exploring Options”

Rajeev De Mello, head of investments and operations in Singapore at Western Asset Management Co., will leave the firm next month.

De Mello, 45, said in a telephone interview he has resigned from Western Asset and is currently “exploring options.” He said he will stay with the company until June 10 and go for a short vacation before returning to Singapore.

He joined Western Asset, part of Baltimore-based Legg Mason Inc., in July 2007. Previously, he oversaw Asian debt in Singapore for Pictet Asset Management, a unit of Switzerland’s largest privately held bank for the wealthy.

Western Asset’s Asian Opportunities Fund, one of those that De Mello manages, returned 14.4 percent in the past year, beating 81 percent of its peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lilian Karunungan in Singapore at lkarunungan@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Regan at jregan19@bloomberg.net.