BlackRock Hires Barclays’s Knapp to Lead New Bond Team

BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest money manager, hired Barry Knapp from Barclays Plc to oversee a new strategies team for its active bond unit.

Knapp, 52, who was head of U.S. equity portfolio strategy for the London-based bank, will join the money manager later this year to lead and build the thematic strategies team, according to a memo sent to employees today by New York-based BlackRock. The group will focus on major structural themes, identify investing opportunities and figure out ways to capture them, according to the memo.