Manager Changes - September 2006 Fidelity Special Situations / Global Special Situations
After months of speculation, Fidelity has unveiled Jorma Korhonen as manager of a new global offshoot fund to be created from the split of Anthony Bolton's Special Situations.
Bolton's £6bn fund split on 16 September, with Global Special Situations launching two days later. Bolton will then run both funds until the end of the year, overseeing the transition of assets to this new mandate. Korhonen will then take over the new fund in January 2007, with Bolton continuing to oversee the smaller UK-focused Special Situations part until the end of 2007 before stepping down from day-to-day fund management for a new mentoring role.
Korhonen, who is not widely known in the UK, has been at Fidelity for 10 years, running international portfolios for half of this time. He currently runs global equity funds for retail investors in Australia and Japan.
At the end of last year, due to all the uncertainty surrounding the fund and the managers, Murdoch Asset Management recommended those clients that were holding the Fidelity Special Situations fund move out to our preferred fund, the Axa Framlington UK Select Opportunities fund. From the beginning of the year to the end of Setpember, the Axa Framlington fund has outperformed the Fidelity fund by 10.85% compared to 7.19% respectively (Source: Hindsight (c) Reuters Ltd, Gross Total Return, No Charges Applied, GBP£, 01.01.2006 to 30.09.2006).
Standard Life Growth & Income
Edward Legget has replaced Wesley McCoy as manager of Standard Life Investments' (SLI) Growth & Income fund.
McCoy, who ran the £44m Growth & Income fund from 1 January 2005 until 1 October this year, has handed over the mandate to concentrate on his UK Equity Unconstrained fund that invests in a concentrated portfolio of around 50 UK stocks across the market spectrum.
Legget has been working within Standard Life's UK equities team for the past four years, concentrating primarily on the engineering, electronics, chemicals and transport sectors. He will continue to work alongside McCoy in Standard Life's 17-man UK equity team, which is headed up by David Cumming.
Axa Framlington UK Growth
Axa Framlington has expanded its UK equities team with the appointment of Jamie Hooper. Hooper will begin work in late November, and will be responsible for the management of the UK Growth fund and the further development of the UK equity large-cap franchise. Hooper has over 11 years' experience in UK equity investment with F&C Asset Management, and has been working for the past four years there as director of UK equities.
Société Générale European team
Matthew Leeman, co-manager of Société Générale Asset Management's (SGAM) European Special Opportunities and Europe funds, has quit the firm to join Morgan Stanley's European equity team.
Leeman left the company following a four-month review of its European business, which has resulted in the group combining its teams in Paris and London. He will be joined at Morgan Stanley by fellow SGAM managers Ricardo Bindi and Jonathan Day, who ran European mandates for institutional and non-UK investors. The three managers will join Morgan Stanley in December, having been approached by the firm to bolster its European equity offering.
SGAM's Stuart Gilmartin, who ran the two portfolios alongside Leeman, has taken over as lead manager on both the European funds.
Schroder UK Large Cap
Jeremy Smith has joined boutique Neptune Investment Management as UK Equity manager. He makes the switch from Schroders after 14 years on the group's UK equities desk. At Neptune, Smith will be responsible for managing the £13.4m Neptune UK Equity fund and a £27.4m segregated UK Equity mandate, with further portfolios to follow. Consistent with Neptune's global sector investment process, where each fund manager acts as an analyst for one or more global sectors, Smith will assume responsibility for the oil and gas sector, which he followed closely at Schroders. He previously managed the Schroder UK Large Cap fund from inception in February 2004, was deputy manager of the Schroder UK Equity fund.
Henderson Horizon Pan European Smaller Companies
Henderson Global Investors has promoted Ollie Beckett as lead manager of the £180m Henderson Horizon Pan European Smaller Companies fund. Beckett has now taken full control of the fund having previously co-managed it with Stephen Peak, head of the European equities team at the group.
Baring Global Emerging Markets
Baring Asset Management has recruited Paul Wimborne as global emerging markets portfolio manager. Wimborne will join Barings in the autumn from Insight Investments, where he ran the AA-rated Global Emerging Markets fund for three years. He will report to James Syme, who will also be joining at the same time, and will work on the Global Emerging Markets, Emerging Opportunities and Latin America funds. Wimborne has more than eight years' investment experience and prior to joining Insight worked in the global equities team at Rothschild Asset Management.
First State Global Opportunities
Andrew Dalrymple, manager of the £65.4m First State Global Opportunities mandate has left the firm to join a small start-up boutique firm.
Dalrymple, who has managed the portfolio since its inception in August 1999, has handed its management to Habib Subjally, co-manager of the £15.8m Balanced fund and manager of the £52.9m Global Growth proposition. Subjally joined the group from Credit Suisse in April this year to head up the global equities team.
Odey Japan
Alex Griffiths has handed management of the £99m Odey Japan product to his deputy Nick Sharp in order to focus on the £578m Japan & General hedge fund. Griffiths will remain head of the four-strong Japan desk and will continue to have input into the Japan fund.
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