Troubled asset management firm Jupiter has appointed industry veteran Nicola Pease as its new chairman.
Ms Pease was chief executive and then deputy chairman of JO Hambro Capital Management between 1998 and 2008. She was a board member at Schroders for seven years until this month.
She replaces Liz Airey in the role, who has been on the board since 2010. Under the corporate governance code best practice is for directors to stand down after nine years.
Jupiter had outflows of £1.3bn in the three months to the end of September 2019, largely from the funds run by Alexander Darwall, who is leaving the company in the near future to launch his own firm.
The board of the £1bn Jupiter European investment trust announced in October that it was removing the trust from Jupiter and moving it to Mr Darwall’s new firm from this month.
The board of one of Jupiter’s existing investment trusts, the £48m Jupiter UK Growth, has also indicated it is considering removing the trust from Jupiter.
The company announced a 16 per cent drop in profits for the six months to the end of June 2019, to £81.4m.
This was after it appointed former Henderson chief executive Andrew Formica to replace Maarten Slendebroek in January 2019.
Mr Formica has previously told FTAdviser he has a five-year strategy to grow the business, including an intention to win investment trust mandates from large US firms.
Jupiter’s share price has risen from £3.14 to the current £3.56 since February.
Ms Pease said: “Jupiter is an exceptional firm with a high-quality team and an ambitious strategy to build the business over the next five years. I look forward to joining the board at a very exciting time for the business.”
david.thorpe@ft.com
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