Quit while you’re ahead is a common piece of advice handed out to chief executives. But business is full of ups and downs, and many don’t manage it.

One who seems to have pulled it off is John Montalbano, outgoing chief executive of RBC Global Asset Management, a C$371 billion (US$302 billion) Canadian fund manager that has grown through two bumper acquisitions in the past decade. One came in 2010, when the firm arrived in London with a bang - the US$1.5 billion acquisition of UK fixed income house BlueBay Asset Management.