London-listed First State Investments has appointed Mario Maia as a senior analyst covering the soft commodities sector to the group’s nine-strong global resources team based in Sydney.

Maia joins from Merrill Lynch Australia where he was a research vice president, concentrating on chemicals, paper and packaging and agriculture sectors, and a research associate, focusing on metals, steel and building materials. Before that, he worked at the Australian division of Martin Place Securities, the boutique brokerage house, as a research analyst for the small caps team covering resources, energy and materials.

Joanne Warner, head of global resources at First State, said in a statement that investor demand for soft commodities is rising. “His appointment further demonstrates our commitment to enhancing our soft commodities investment strategies following the launch of the First State Global Agribusiness Fund in the UK and Europe in May last year, which followed the launch of a soft commodities fund for our Australian investors back in 2009,” she said.

First State is part of Colonial First State Global Asset Management, the consolidated asset management business of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.