Fidelity European’s manager Tim McCarron is to leave Fidelity in January 2010, to take time away from the industry. McCarron has been a portfolio manager at Fidelity since 1996, and has run the Morningstar Elite rated Fidelity European since 2003. He is struggling a bit this year, but not enough to dent his excellent long term record. In true Fidelity style, Sam Morse, manager of Fidelity Moneybuilder Growth, will step up to take the helm. Morse has been at Fidelity since 1990 (with the exception of a six year stint at M&G from 1997 – 2003), and has been a portfolio manager since 1994. We think highly of him as a manager, and have awarded Fidelity Moneybuilder Growth a Morningstar Qualitat
ive Rating of Superior, but his recent focus has been on UK equities. To read more on these changes, click here. To read our updated report on Fidelity European, click here. To read our report on Morse’s Fidelity Moneybuilder Growth fund, click here.
More manager changes at Fidelity
Tim McCarron’s impending departure has set of a string of changes at Fidelity. James Griffin, currently manager of Fidelity Institutional UK Specialist (since November 2008) will take over Fidelity Moneybuilder Growth on the 1st January 2010. While Griffin’s public track record at UK Specialist is short, he has managed UK Pension funds at Fidelity since January 1999. Additionally, Matt Siddle, manager of Fidelity Growth and Income, Fidelity Funds – United Kingdom and the equity portion of Fidelity Moneybuilder Balanced, is moving to Fidelity’s European research team. James Griffin will also take over the Standard-rated Growth and Income and United Kingdom funds, and Michael Clarke will take on the equity sleeve of Fidelity Moneybuilder Balanced.
New hire at Cazenove
Cazenove Capital has hired Kuldip Shergill to its 5 member European equity team. Shergill, who will be a senior investment analyst, will work closely with Chris Rice, the manager of the Morningstar Elite rated Cazenove European Fund. Shergill’s previous experience includes 9 years at Gartmore as a pan-European analyst as well as sell-side experience at Merrill Lynch and Cheuvreux. At Cazenove, Shergill will have specific sector responsibilities.
Fund merger at WestLB
WestLB Mellon Asset Management has announced the merger of the WestLB Mellon Compass Fund Emerging Asian Fund into the WestLB Mellon Compass Fund Global Emerging Markets Fund, effective December 1 2009. We note that the merger is of a fund focused on emerging markets in Asia into a broader emerging markets offering. Such fund mergers can be detrimental to investors, as they often find themselves with very different market exposure than they had planned for. I
Pioneer Investments CEO to leave firm
Dario Frigerio, the chief executive officer of Pioneer Investments and deputy general manager at Unicredit Group, the Italian parent organization of Pioneer Investments, is to leave the firm. Frigerio will stay in his role until 31 January 2010 to help with the transition, and a replacement has not been announced as yet.
Morningstar qualitative ratings and reports issued this week
Morningstar issued new qualitative ratings and reports on a number of funds available to UK investors this week, including BGF United Kingdom and Cazenove Pan European. Click here to see the full list.