Manager Changes - August 2007 Close All Weathers
Close International has named John Marshall and Andrew Thompson as managers of its All Weather fund after the previous team left last month. The pair will also head up the Discretionary Strategy vehicle, with both funds part of Close's Jersey domiciled range. The previous team running the portfolios comprised Phil Bain, Peter Paturel, Vaughan Rimeur and Tim Ford. All four are set to join Rathbone Investment Management in Jersey in October. Marshall is chairman of the investment committee at Close Wealth Management and Thompson is an investment director. Both have experience of absolute return, fund of funds and multi-manager funds.
AXA Framlington Biotechnology
Deane Donnigan and Antony Milford will oversee AXA Framlington's Biotechnology fund until the group finds a permanent replacement for the departing Gareth Powell. Powell is joining Polar Capital in November, though he will continue to remain on the portfolio during his notice period. He took over the Biotechnology fund from Milford in April 2005, and will co-run a healthcare fund with Dan Mahoney at Polar Capital.
Baring Hong Kong China
Ex-Standard Life Investments UK manager Agnes Deng takes on Barings Hong Kong China fund after huge inflows over last 18 months, and is replacing Lilian Co on the fund. Deng joins from Standard Life Investments, where she has worked since 2001 running the China Equity fund. Kai Kong Chey will replace Deng at Standard Life. Deng will join Barings' Hong Kong office and become lead manager of the fund, reporting to head of investments, Henry Chan.
Threadneedle Manager Department
Phil Cliff, a European fund manager at Threadneedle, will leave the company at the end of August to form his own boutique. Cliff, who joined Threadneedle in 2001, has managed the European Select fund since 2005 and the Pan European Accelerando fund since 2004. Dan Ison will join Threadneedle in early September as head of pan European equities, taking over responsibility for the Pan European Accelerando fund. Ison joins from hedge fund manager Clareville Capital, where he managed a European equity book within the firm's Pegasus fund.
Credit Suisse Equity Income
Sarasin Chiswell's Graham Ashby is joining Credit Suisse to run its equity income desk. Ashby, Sarasin's UK Equity Income fund manager, will be joined by his former DWS colleague Michael Crawford with a third manager still to be announced. Between them they will run the Income, Monthly Income and Alpha Income funds. The trio are Credit Suisse's first additions to the equity income desk since Bill Mott and Errol Francis left last year.
Norwich UK Growth
Morley has appointed Chris Murphy as manager of the Norwich UK Growth fund and Richard Colwell as manager of the Norwich Income & Growth fund. Murphy, who has experience of managing mid-caps, takes over Norwich UK Growth from David Lis. He will continue to create growth but with lower exposure to traditional sectors such as biotechnology. The fund will have a mid-cap bias, and focus on cash flow and value creation. Murphy previously ran the Norwich Income & Growth fund, which Colwell is taking over. The broad strategy on this fund will remain the same but Colwell will run a more concentrated portfolio of stocks with greater exposure to the FTSE 250 index.
Threadneedle Latin America
Katy Dobson replaces Jules Mort as head of the Threadneedle Latin America fund, who will remain in the number two position, while also focusing on the company's segregated institutional mandates. Prior to joining Threadneedle last year, Dobson managed $1.5bn in Latin American funds at Pictet Asset Management.
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