Duo take control of Investec's £1bn energy franchise

Investec Asset Management has officially named Tom Nelson and Charles Whall as co-managers of its global energy portfolios.

Last year Investec poached Nelson and Whall from Guinness Asset Management and Newton Asset Management, respectively, after Wealth Manager revealed their predecessors Jonathan Waghorn and Mark Lacey had resigned.

Nelson (pictured) and Whall joined the firm in September 2012, initially as energy specialists within the commodities and resources team supporting the team head Bradley George, who has been managing the funds in the interim.

The £1 billion range includes the Investec GSF Global Energy fund, which according to Lipper has returned 3.2% over the last year, making it the third best performer out of the 103 funds in its peer group. Over three years the fund has kept losses down to 0.4% versus an average fund decline of 1.9%.

George is confident the duo can exploit what he expects to be an exciting year for energy companies. 'We continue to see a tightening oil market as global demand continues to grow, supply disappoints and therefore we expect stronger long-term crude oil prices.

'We believe many oil and gas companies are significantly undervalued relative to current and longer-term energy prices and are excited about the total shareholder return prospects for energy companies into 2013.'