Blackrock has announced further changes to its European equities desk as European Absolute Alpha manager David Tovey prepares to leave the business after 23 years.
Tovey, who has managed the fund since 2017, is to be replaced by Stephanie Bothwell as co-manager. It will be Bothwell’s first named portfolio manager role since joining Blackrock three years ago. Stefan Gries will remain joint lead on the fund which he has worked on since its inception 12 years ago and co-managed since 2013.
Blackrock said the moves reflect its “commitment to developing investment talent as well as realising the best performance for clients and assuring consistency in investment strategy”.
Prior to Tovey’s departure Alister Hibbert announced he would be stepping back from the £4.5bn European Dynamic fund.
Fund ratings retained for now
The European Absolute Alpha fund currently has £634m in assets and has returned 17.4% over the past three years, well above the IA Targeted Absolute Return sector’s 3.6%.
Both Square Mile and Fundcalibre said they would retain their ratings on the fund for the time being despite Tovey’s departure.
Square Mile said it had been “reassured” by the steps taken by Blackrock to ensure continuity of the investment process and pointed out that Bothwell had already been an “important contributor of ideas” particularly on the short side. It also noted Chris Sykes, who worked closely with Tovey, would continue to support Gries and Bothwell.
“Square Mile’s analysts will meet Mr Gries and Ms Bothwell in the coming weeks, but have decided neither to remove nor suspend the fund’s A rating at present.”
Chelsea Financial Services managing director Darius McDermott said the changes made to Blackrock’s European Equities team so far “have come through positively”.
“On the European AA fund which David co managed, Stefan Gries is still there and as such, we continue to rate the fund.”
