Seven Investment Management’s head of portfolio management Haig Bathgate is set to leave the wealth manager early this year, Portfolio Adviser has learned.
Bathgate (pictured) joined 7IM in May 2018 after it acquired Tcam, the Edinburgh DFM business which he spun-out of law firm Turcan Connell with business partner Alexander Montgomery.
The deal took 7IM’s assets up to £13.6bn and saw Tcam’s co-founders become partners in the wealth manager and members of the management committee. Montgomery, who was made head of wealth management at 7IM, left a year after the acquisition.
See also: 7IM buys DFM with family office focus
Less than three years later Bathgate is also stepping away from the London DFM. A 7IM spokesperson confirmed he would be leaving early this year “to pursue a new challenge”.
A source told Portfolio Adviser Bathgate was leaving to set up a hedge fund business with his brother, Mark Bathgate, who works as an asset management consultant and was previously a portfolio manager at Bluebay Asset Management.
Bathgate did not respond to Portfolio Adviser’s request for comment.
7IM hunting for new portfolio management boss
7IM said CIO Martyn Surguy will take over Bathgate’s responsibilities as it looks for a replacement. Surguy joined the DFM in 2019 from Credit Suisse UK where he was head of portfolio management.
CEO Dean Proctor thanked Bathgate for his “invaluable contribution” to the business. “We wish him all the best for the future.”
Surguy added: “I’m grateful for Haig’s contribution in helping to develop and implement our portfolio management process over the past couple of years. The enhancements we’ve made and specialised team focus have seen us deliver top quartile investment performance across our portfolios throughout 2020.”
7IM has endured a string of senior departures since acquiring Tcam, losing CEO Tom Sheridan and the last of its original founding partners, Justin Urquhart Stewart in 2019.
Over the first six months of 2020 the DFM’s total assets tumbled to £14.4bn thanks to the hit from the coronavirus crisis. But AUM was bumped up to £17bn in October after it acquired financial planner Partners Wealth Management which took headcount at the firm to 400 employees.
The same month 7IM acquired Findawealthmanager.com, a DFM matchmaker website, which it denied represented a conflict of interest despite the fact users of the website could be paired up with the firm.
See also: 7IM denies conflict of interest as it buys wealth manager matchmaker website
