M&G has announced that Anne Richards, Global Chief Investment Officer at Aberdeen Asset Management, will take over from Michael McLintock as their Chief Executive Officer later this year. McLintock is retiring after nearly two decades at the helm of M&G. At Aberdeen, Richards was not responsible for the management of any funds and therefore we have not changed any ratings on the basis of her impending departure. This is, though, another setback at the corporate level for Aberdeen, where poor performance in recent years has led to consistent heavy outflows from their funds.
What Does this Mean for Investors?
Anne Richards joined Aberdeen in 2003 from Edinburgh Fund Managers and joined the Aberdeen board in 2011. Her title at Aberdeen is Global Chief Investment Officer and Head of the EMEA Region; she is a senior executive of Aberdeen, a FTSE 100 company that has grown through acquisition in recent years.
Richards is not actively involved in the day-to-day management of any Aberdeen fund, nor is she prominent in the formation of Aberdeen’s investment strategy at any Aberdeen offerings with Morningstar Analyst Ratings. At this time, therefore, we are not changing the Morningstar Analyst Rating for any Aberdeen funds on the basis of her planned departure.
That said, the firm has seen a few changes to key members of its investment teams in the past year. As part of a succession planning programme, Hugh Young took a broader remit at the firm and ceded his role of Global Equities head to Devan Kaloo, with Flavia Cheong also stepping up as head of the firm’s Asian Equities desk. Chong Yoon-Chou, one of the team’s longest serving members and an investment director on its Asian Equities team, was scheduled to leave the firm at the end of January 2016, to take a break from the industry.
In our December 14 report for Aberdeen Global Asia Pacific Equity Fund, Hong-Kong-based Morningstar senior analyst Mark Laidlaw evinced confidence in the team, writing: “Aberdeen boasts one of the largest dedicated investment teams in the region with staffers based in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Jakarta, as well as Sydney and Tokyo.
“The firm believes in rotating company visits around the team to stay objective, which works well given the considerable resources and relatively limited number of invested companies.”
He also notes that while Yoon-Chou’s “presence will be missed, there are sufficient resources to fill the gap left.”
Richards’ departure, however, can be seen as a setback at the corporate level. Aberdeen’s strong team approach to investment management has struggled to deliver good performance in recent years, and consequently the firm has seen consistent outflows of assets.
