Angus Tulloch and Jonathan Asante are to step back from their current responsibilities at Stewart Investors amid a range of changes at the firm.
Mr Tulloch, currently manager of the Asia Pacific Leaders fund, will hand over responsibility to David Gait and Sashi Reddy. On Mr Tulloch’s Asia Pacific fund he will remain co-manager but the reins are to be handed to Ashish Swarup.
Mr Asante will cease managing the Global Emerging Markets Leaders Fund and Stewart Investors Global Emerging Markets Leaders, with both to be managed by Mr Swarup and Tom Prew.
Colonial First State funds and the GEM trust funds managed by Mr Asante will also be handed over to Mr Prew and Mr Swarup.
The Stewart Investors Worldwide Leaders Fund; the Stewart Investors MPF Global Equity Fund and the Colonial First State Wholesale Worldwide Leaders Fund will all transition from Mr Asante to Mr Reddy and the sustainable funds team.
The firm said Mr Asante, Mr Gait and Mr Prew will continue to manage client money across other mandates in the region and Mr Tullock will remain a member of the investment team.
In a letter to investors, Stewart Investors said the move and its investment approach “represented a balance” between collegiate and individual.
It said: “These changes, as with others we have made over the years, must be seen in the context of the broader evolution of our business. We operate in an industry still overly-focused on individuals.”
“The result of the changes is to broaden responsibilities across the team, in line with our present investment capabilities. As with similar changes we have made before, they are part of a continuous focus on transparent succession planning and will take place over the next nine months, being complete by July 1 2016.”
The firm plans to transition Asia Pacific Leaders to a sustainability remit under Mr Gait, subject to the necessary approvals, to bring it in line with his existing portfolios. Stewart Investors said there was already significant overlap between the fund and its sustainable portfolios.
