Mike Felton has left M&G after 11 years with M&G Dividend deputy fund manager Sam Ford taking over his £598m UK Select vehicle.
Mr Felton has been with M&G since 2005 when he joined from F&C as head of UK retail equities.
However, Mr Ford will takeover his responsibilities on January 1 2017. He will be supported by current UK Select co-deputy fund managers Garfield Kiff and Rory Alexander, with the duo managing the strategy until Mr Ford takes over next year.
Mr Ford joined M&G in 2014 as an income analyst but was swiftly promoted to deputy fund manager on the £1.3bn M&G Dividend, £412m Extra Income and £84m Pan European Dividend vehicles.
He will retain these roles after taking over the UK Select strategy.
The UK Select fund currently runs a long-term value approach with a 50-stock concentrated portfolio. However, it is expected Mr Ford will bring his own strategy of investing in long-term growth stocks with reputations for strong capital allocation decisions.
The move, however, spells an end to Mr Felton's 11-year tenure on the strategy. On joining M&G he began managing the then M&G UK Capital Fund. This later became the UK Growth fund before its current form as the UK Select vehicle, which was launched in December 2014.
Since launch, the UK Select Fund has returned 6 per cent, compared to 12.4 per cent for the IA UK All Companies sector, according to FE Analytics.
Graham Mason, M&G equities, multi-asset, retail fixed interest CIO, said: “I would like to thank Mike for his outstanding contribution over the past 11 years."
He added: “Sam...has quickly made his mark as an astute investor and I am confident that he will do a good job."
