EuropeMar 1 2018

Chelverton launches European equity fund

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Chelverton launches European equity fund

Boutique asset management company Chelverton is launching a European equity fund.

The Chelverton European Select fund will be managed by Dale Robertson and Gareth Rudd.

Mr Robertson previously spent 13 years at Edinburgh Partners and Scottish Widows Investment Partners. Mr Rudd was most recently employed at Willis Welby, and prior to that was a trader at ABN Amro.

The duo said the fund will be managed using the value style of investing, though some areas of the market that are, they say, in vogue with value investors right now, such as oil and telecom companies, are not attractive.

The managers said while technological change is a major investment theme, they feel there is more chance of generating a good return by avoiding those companies that will be the losers from technological change, rather than trying to pick the winners.

Mr Robertson said: "We think back to the early years of the automotive industry, in Henry Ford's time, there were 1,300 automobile manufacturers in the US. Now there are three.

"We think as investors, you are better off avoiding the horse and cart makers than trying to find which of the 1,300 will win."

Jason Hollands, managing director for business development and communications at Tilney, said: "Many asset allocators and fund selectors are currently positive on European equities as political anxieties around populism have abated to some degree and the economic recovery is now well entrenched.

"While Europe is an area where there are a number of excellent managers to choose from, most funds are predominantly focused on large and mid-cap stocks and are often invested in globally diversified names, rather than more domestically focused names.

"The new Chelverton fund aims to take a true multi-cap approach which provides an element of differentiation although veteran manager Richard Pease’s Crux European Special Situations fund also sits firmly in the multi-cap space and has a long and outstanding track record."

david.thorpe@ft.com