UK fund manager James Anderson to leave Scottish Mortgage next year
19/03/2021 10:53
March 19 (Reuters) - Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust
(SMT) SMT.L , UK's largest investment trust, said on Friday
joint portfolio manager James Anderson would be stepping down in
April 2022 after more than two decades with the firm.
The move comes as Swedish investment firm Kinnevik
KINVb.ST , which counts Sweden's wealthy Stenbeck family as a
shareholder, proposed on Friday to make Anderson, one of UK's
most successful fund managers, its new chairman. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2LH1GI
Anderson was responsible for SMT's investments in private
companies, which was "one of the trust's most important
strategic initiatives to date", Chairman Fiona McBain said in a
statement. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2LH06B
Shares of the FTSE-100 firm were down about 2% at 1,132
pence by 1030 GMT.
The news could cause worry to investors who made "fantastic
returns" over the years, said Ryan Hughes, AJ Bell's head of
active portfolios, adding that Anderson delivered 1,700% in
returns since being appointed to SMT.
SMT, one of asset manager Baillie Gifford's flagship trusts,
has 17 billion pounds ($23.68 billion) in net assets and boasts
of having interests in companies including Tesla TSLA.O ,
Amazon AMZN.O and Delivery Hero DHER.DE .
Fellow partner at SMT, Tom Slater, will continue as lead
portfolio manager of the 112-year old company, when Anderson
retires. Lawrence Burns, also a partner at Baillie Gifford, will
become deputy portfolio manager, SMT said.
Anderson will also retire as partner from Baillie Gifford,
SMT said.
($1 = 0.7178 pounds)
(Reporting by Chris Thomas and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru;
Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
((chris.thomas@thomsonreuters.com; +91-80-6749-8695;))