BGF Cont. European Flexible: Qual. Rating Issued
BGF Continental European Flexible has had a promising start under its new manager, but we need to see more of what he can do.
"Alister Hibbert took over here upon joining BlackRock from SWIP in March 2008. Hibbert was hired with seven of his SWIP colleagues, led by Nigel Bolton. Their addition has granted the BlackRock team greater stability, which was a notable weakness. In our opinion, Bolton's solid record at SWIP and successful background in reorganising teams were a good match for the task at hand. On joining, he unified the research process and established easier access to analytical data within the team. The firm does not host a dedicated research pool so Bolton aligned the managers along sector lines and they now share the research responsibility. This cohesive structure has enabled them to make better use of each other’s expertise."
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