Of course that is not always the case, but when it does come along, a well-thought-through retirement is something to savour.
After 26 years in the asset management industry, Ashton Bradbury will retire from Old Mutual at the end of the year and, while he will undoubtedly be missed, his departure is unlikely to cause much consternation on the part of investors.
Bradbury had a very good run between 2002 and 2008 (that included the dark days of the financial crisis) at the helm of Old Mutual’s UK Mid Cap Fund, during which time he produced a cumulative return over 80% according to FE Analytics, after which he stepped back from the fund in November of that year after being appointed head of UK equities.
He was then replaced as head of UK equities by Richard Buxton, who Old Mutual lured away from Schroders, in 2013. And following 16 months with the two men in the business, Bradbury has decided to step down at the end of the year, saying: “Having spent 16 years commuting on a regular basis to London from my home in South Wales I have decided that the time is now right to pursue a somewhat less hectic pace of life in the years ahead.
“I have been fortunate to work alongside some exceptional people during my time at Old Mutual Global Investors and have no doubt that the business as a whole and the equities team specifically is very well placed to continue to move forward in the future,” he added.
During this time, Bradbury has continued to keep his hand in in the money management game through the management of his Cayman Islands-domiciled Old Mutual UK Specialist Equity Fund. A long/short equity fund with $110m in the strategy ($65m under management in the Fund), it too has performed well, with a worst cumulative drawdown of -4.1% and, according to Old Mutual, no down years over its 11-year track record.
And, Old Mutual maintains, it is also in good hands, as management of the fund will be taken over at the end of the year by Tim Service, who has been Bradbury’s deputy for the last two and a half years and, in the intervening few months, Service will take up the role of co-manager alongside Bradbury.
As Buxton puts it: “By having strength and depth in my team, we can offer clients an excellent alternative to Ashton by announcing Tim as their Co-Manager. Tim has a great deal of investment management experience, has worked with Ashton on ideas for both the long and short side of the strategy and I believe that he is an excellent choice to replace Ashton as lead manager of the Old Mutual UK Specialist Equity Fund at the end of a three month transition period.”
As we have written previously, the manager merry-go-round continues to turn and is likely to throw up some interesting moves over the next few months, as managers grow more confident in their employability, funds under management continue to rise and as those firms that were ‘shocked’ by departures seek to plug holes. But, one can’t help but hope for investors’ sakes (if not for headline writers) that occasionally there are more departures like Bradbury’s.
