Columbia Threadneedle Investments has announced two internal hires as Jupiter swipes a second manager from the European equities team.
In a press release, Jupiter revealed Mark Heslop had defected from the US funds giant and would be launching a European smaller companies fund for the FTSE 250 firm in Q4 2019. He managed the £2.7bn European small cap strategy and £514m in the Threadneedle Global Smaller Companies strategy.
Heslop is due to join Jupiter in September.
The announcement comes just two weeks after Jupiter revealed it had poached Mark Nichols, co-manager of the £4bn Threadneedle European Select strategy, to take over from star fund manager Alexander Darwall on the £5.3bn Jupiter European fund and the £2.4bn Jupiter European Growth Sicav.
Shortly after Jupiter’s announcement, Columbia Threadneedle detailed the two internal hires that would be replacing Heslop.
Columbia Threadneedle names internal appointments
Mine Tezgul, who joined as a European small cap analyst from Lansdowne Partners in late 2018, will become deputy manager on the firm’s Europe ex-UK small cap portfolios. Tezgul will support Philip Dicken, head of European equities. She has spent 10 years as a long-short equity research analyst at companies including Lansdowne and Highbridge Capital.
Scott Woods will become manager of the Threadneedle (Lux) Global Smaller Companies fund, stepping up from his position as deputy portfolio manager.
Woods joined Columbia Threadneedle in 2015 as an analyst in the global equities team with a focus on US small caps.
Willis Owen head of personal investing Adrian Lowcock said it was good to see new portfolio managers appointed. “It is always disturbing when a firm loses a couple of managers in quick succession as it creates a lot of speculation about the state of the business. I think in this instance it is important to remember that each individual will have their own reasons for leaving and indeed joining Jupiter.”
Mark Burgess, CIO for Emea at Columbia Threadneedle, said both candidates had worked closely with portfolio managers. “We emphasise succession planning and are taking the opportunity to develop and progress our talent following changes in the team. We have a market-leading developed equities capability with a team-based philosophy, a deep bench of talent at all levels and a track record of developing emerging investors into leading portfolio management roles. Senior managers including Phil Dicken and Dave Dudding are a testament to this approach.”
Meanwhile, Jupiter CIO Stephen Pearson said the launch of a European smaller companies fund under Heslop was a natural fit for the fund house, which offers similar products in US and UK equities.
