Mr Patel will transfer to Fidelity from his role as head of Australian research at T. Rowe Price after more than 7 years at the global asset management firm.
Before that, he was vice president at AllianceBernstein, where he stayed for 4 years, and prior to that was general manager at Boral, where he worked from 2003 to 2007.
Mr Patel will take up his new role in mid-June this year and oversee a team of 10 Australia-based analysts, reporting to Fidelity International global head of research Henk-Jan Rikkerink.
Commenting on the appointment, Mr Rikkerink said: “I am delighted to welcome someone of Viral’s calibre to lead our Australia-based analyst team.
“Fidelity International is passionate about delivering great active returns for our clients and we continue to invest in our global research platform in order to achieve this.”
He added that Australia was an “important and growing market” for the investment firm.
