Fund closure for star Japanese equity manager

Luxembourg-based Warburg Invest has opted to close the mandate run by Citywire A-rated manager Fukuo Shigeta due to fund volumes falling below an operable level.

The MMW Securities Fund – Nippon Equity Sub-Fund was closed at the end of December due to concerns about the efficiency of the product.

Shigeta, who works for Tokyo-based Nippon Finance , had run the portfolio on behalf of Warburg Invest since October 1999.

According to the most recent available documents, the size of the fund at the end of November 2012 was 326.49 million yen (€2.84 million).

A spokesperson for Warburg Invest told Citywire Global: ‘The fund volume was too small and the company didn't see an efficient and economical management for the investor's benefit.’

Despite the closure of the Warburg Invest mandate, Shigeta continues to run the separate Japanese equity fund, the Nippon Portfolio.

Shigeta has been a stand-out performer in the Japanese equity sector and was noted in 2009 as one of the strongest 10 managers in his field.

He also featured in a recent Star Tracker analysis piece looking at the fund performance over the following three years.

In the three years to the end of November 2012, the MMW Securities Fund – Nippon Equity Sub-Fund had lost 0.37%. This compares to its Citywire benchmark, the Topix TR, which fell 0.68% over the same period.