Bloxham Stockbrokers has appointed Pramit Ghose, one of Ireland's leading fund managers, as its managing partner.

Mr Ghose will take the reins on April 1st, replacing Angus McDonnell, who has held the position for 19 years. Mr McDonnell (64) will remain as a partner and concentrate on client work.

Mr Ghose said he hoped to achieve profits of between €25 million and €30 million for IFSC-based Bloxham over the next five years. This would be more than three times Bloxham's estimated current profit level. It has annual revenues of about €20 million.

"We'll need a fair wind at our backs but we think it's possible if the markets remain strong," Mr Ghose said.

He joined Bloxham in 2002, setting up an asset management division. From a standing start, Bloxham now manages about €1.15 billion of client money in seven funds that are administered by Irish Life and New Ireland Assurance.

Mr Ghose hopes to treble this figure by 2012. Asset management accounts for about 40 per cent of Bloxham's revenues.

An actuary by training, Mr Ghose began his career at New Ireland Assurance in 1986.

He moved to Friends First, becoming its investment director and winning the MoneyMate pension fund manager of the year award four times in a row up to 2000.

In 2000, he joined Hibernian Investment Managers but left after just 18 months. He spent about six months out of the business before joining Bloxham.

The partnership structure at Bloxham has been shaken up over the past couple of years. Arthur Quinlan, David Harlowe, Martin Harte and Aidan Sheerin retired last year while John Maguire is set to step down at the end of March.

Mr Ghose became a partner in late 2005.