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Henderson financial team exits; Peak gives up UK Alpha
by Danielle Levy on Jan 18, 2013 at 10:46
Henderson fund manager Stephen Peak is to relinquish control of the UK Alpha fund to concentrate on his new role as head of global equities at the firm.
Citywire AAA-rated Neil Hermon, manager of the UK Smaller Companies fund and Smaller Companies investment trust , will take over Peak's £439 million UK Alpha fund from 1 February. He will be supported by James Ross, assistant fund manager on the Henderson European Absolute Return hedge fund.
Peak (pictured) has stepped back from the fund in order to concentrate on Henderson's growing US mutual funds business, where he runs the $2.5 billion International Opportunities fund, and to head the newly created global equity investment unit.
Hermon's UK Smaller Companies fund has posted a 72.7% return over the past year, compared to a 51.7% rise by the Numis Smaller Companies Extended (ex-Investment Trust) index.
The move forms part of a broader restructure of Henderson's equity team, which will see the team divided into four main divisions: European equities under John Bennett, multi-asset under Bill McQuaker, absolute return headed by David Elms, alongside Stephen Peak's new dedicated global equity investment unit. Hermon will head the UK equities division at Henderson alongside UK Absolute Return manager Ben Wallace, forming a sub-division of European equities under the new structure.
Global financials team departs
Linked to the restructure, the global financials team, led by Simon Peters, has departed the firm, with control of the £65 million Global Financials fund moving to Matthew Beesley's team, which currently runs global equities at the firm. The company has also opted to close its global financials hedge fund, as the fund was no longer efficient to run due to its small size.
Recognising the fact that Henderson no longer has a house view and individual teams have autonomy, the firm has decided to remove the chief investment officer role, which was formerly held by David Jacob. He remains at the company and takes on a new role as vice chairman of Henderson Global Investors, with involvement in specific growth projects.
Head of equities Graham Kitchen said the firm had carried out the changes to provide greater clarity for clients - particularly in the wake of the Gartmore and New Star acquisitions, which involved a number of different sub-teams moving over to Henderson.
'From a client perspective the purpose of the restructure was to make our department more straightforward for our clients to understand,' Kitchen said.
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More about this article:
Look up the funds
- Henderson Global Equity Income A Inc
- Henderson UK Absolute Return GBP I Acc
- Henderson UK Alpha GBP
- Henderson UK Smaller Companies A Net Acc
- Henderson Global Financials A GBP Acc
Look up the investment trusts
Look up the fund managers
- Neil Hermon
- James Ross
- Stephen Peak
- Chris Palmer
- Charlie Awdry
- Bill McQuaker
- Patrick Sumner
- Stuart O'Gorman
- Matthew Beesley
- John Crawford
- John Bennett
- Ben Wallace
- David Elms
- Simon Peters
- Ben Lofthouse
- Ian Warmerdam
More from us
- Henderson hires Mercer's O'Connor as multi-asset director
- Lanning void filled as Henderson hires Armstrong's de Bunsen
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