BlackRock have confirmed that Roland Arnold has become joint manager of the £848m BlackRock Smaller Companies investment trust.
Data from FE Analytics shows that this trust, managed solely by Mike Prentis, has outperformed the market for 15 consecutive years.
Alan Brierley, investment trust analyst at Canaccord Genuity, said he is unaware of any other fund manager achieving 15 years of consecutive outperformance.
In a recent interview with FTAdviser, Mr Prentis said he was minimising his exposure to the UK economy.
Mr Arnold is the long serving joint manager of the £675m BlackRock Special Situations fund, which has returned 35 per cent over the past three years to 16 May, compared with 22 per cent for the average fund in the IA UK All Companies sector in the same time period.
This fund invests in large, mid and small cap companies.
A spokesman for BlackRock said: "Roland Arnold has been appointed as co-manager of the BlackRock Smaller Companies trust, alongside current manager Mike Prentis, who has managed the trust since September 2002.
"Mike and Roland have worked very closely together since 2005 and are part of BlackRock's UK small and mid-cap team consisting of four fund managers, all of whom conduct research and contribute investment ideas for inclusion in the trust.
"The move to a co-manager structure is not expected to have any impact on the investment philosophy or approach of the trust.
"Mr Arnold is a director and senior portfolio manager on the UK small and mid-cap team. He is a highly experienced fund manager with over 17 years' experience."
david.thorpe@ft.com
