Patrick Johns has quit as group head of institutional marketing and sales at Prudential Portfolio Managers to join Foreign & Colonial.

His departure from PPM indicates the Pru's increasing bias to retail work. It comes hard on the heels of the departure of Rodney Dennis, former PPM investment chief, following the Pru's purchase of M&G. M&G marketing chief Frank Doyle also quit recently to join Dresdner RCM. He departed hard on the heels of lieutenant Pippa Knight, who now works at Fleming. Foreign & Colonial are delighted to have captured Johns, seen as a central figure in the tight-knit institutional marketing community. As institutional managing director, Johns is set to join the board of F&C Management following the departure of Jonathan Lubran to hard-pressed Schroder, after his success in retaining a large chunk of its electricity pension fund business.