Fund Times: 18 - 22 August
Alliance Trust Appoints New Chief Investment Officer; M&G UK Select Handed to Garfield Kiff As Felton Takes Leave; Gartmore Poaches Threadneedle Head of Equities; New Star Adds to International Team and HSBC Names New Head of Multimanager Business.
Alliance Trust Plc has appointed Katherine Garrett-Cox as Chief Executive to replace Alan Harden – who stepped down last month to move to ING Investment Management Asia Pacific. She will commence her new role next week. Garrett-Cox joined Alliance Trust in May 2007 as Chief Investment Officer from Morley Fund Management, where she held the same title.
Alliance Trust is a FTSE 100 company and the largest generalist UK investment trust on the London Stock Exchange by assets under management, with assets of £2.6billion. The fund has had a difficult year so far in 2008, shedding 13.8% of its value for the year-to-date through 21 August.
M&G UK Select Handed to Garfield Kiff As Felton Takes Leave
M&G announced this week that Mike Felton, manager of M&G UK Select, has been diagnosed with leukemia and taking leave to commence treatment. Felton is expected back early in 2009. Garfield Kiff, who is currently deputy manager at the fund, will assume its management during Felton’s absence. Garfield has been at M&G since February 2000 and has also recently taken charge of M&G UK Growth . Investors can read our analyses of M&G UK Select and M&G UK Growth here and here.
Gartmore Poaches Threadneedle Head of Equities
Gartmore has appointed Threadneedle’s Dominic Rossi as Chief Investment Officer. Rossi was the Head of Equities at Threadneedle and joins with a wealth of experience in investment management. In his new role, Rossi will take charge of Gartmore’s investment division which manages some £24 billion and has more than 90 employees in London, Tokyo and Boston. Rossi will become a member of the Board of Gartmore Investment Management Ltd, subject to regulatory approval. The performance of the firm’s fund lineup has been subpar recently, with only 44% of funds besting their rivals in their respective Morningstar categories over the last three years.
New Star Adds to International Team
Greg Jones will be replacing Phillip Goldsmith as managing director of New Star’s international fund business next month. Jones will not be a new face at New Star: He is currently a sales director in the UK, and he will retain that role. Jones has been at New Star for seven years.
HSBC Names New Head of Multimanager Business
Guy Morrell, who currently leads HSBC's Multimanager Real Estate investment team, has been named as the new head of the firm's Multimanager business for the UK and MENA. Morrell will retain his previous position. James Hughes, who had headed up the team, will now focus on building-up the firm’s multimanager efforts in Hong Kong. Hughes previously managed HSBC Open Global Return from its launch in 2006 and drove it to strong returns until he stepped down in March 2008 to shift his focus to business development. These changes follow a number of departures from the team earlier this year.