M&G's Alex Odd to replace Richard Hughes on Dividend fund

M&G's Alex Odd  is to take over the management of the M&G Dividend fund from veteran investor Richard Hughes from 1 July.

Hughes (pictured) will continue to oversee £1.3 billion of UK equity assets for the firm and will support Alex Odd on the £501 million M&G Dividend A Inc fund.

Odd, who will continue to run the M&G Income fund, will bring his unconstrained approach to portfolio construction to the fund and will invest across the yield spectrum.

M&G said it expected a smooth transition as Odd's investment approach would be similar to Hughes' approach.

Hughes, who has been at M&G for 24 years, recruited Odd to the firm.

He said: 'I recruited Alex five years ago with a view to nurturing the next generation of UK equity income managers at M&G. So it gives me great pleasure to hand over the Dividend Fund to him now. His flexible approach aims to deliver consistent performance across different market conditions.'

Odd joined M&G in 2005 as a UK equity investment manager. He took over the M&G Income fund at the end of April 2006 and will continue to run the fund alongside the Dividend fund.

Over the three years to the end of May 2010, Odd has returned -11.3% on the M&G Income fund compared to -15.1%  for the avearge manager in the UK equity income sector according to Lipper.

Hughes has posted -16.1% over the same period on the Dividend fund.