Marlborough Fund Managers founder Geoff Hitchin is retiring after 34 years running the firm’s Global Bond fund.
Hitchin announced on Friday his intention to step down, having on Wednesday passed the fund to his fixed interest team colleagues Danny Fox and Niall McDermott, who between them have more than 30 years’ experience.
Hitchin founded Marlborough Fund Managers in 1986, after spending nearly 20 years as a tax officer and tax consultant. He launched the Global Bond fund in 1987 and the Bond Income fund in 1998.
The Global Bond fund has outperformed the IA Global Mixed Bond sector average over all time periods. It has delivered a 12.6%, 18.9% and 66.7% total return over three, five and 10 years, compared with the sector’s 10.5%, 14.2% and 44.4%, respectively, according to FE Analytics.
Fox has been promoted to senior fund manager on both funds, having previously been a manager on the Bond Income fund. He joined Marlborough in 2018 as an assistant fund manager on both funds and has previously managed fixed interest portfolios at RSA, Rothschild Asset Management, Insight Investment and Co-operative Asset Management.
McDermott has been promoted from assistant fund manager to fund manager on both funds. He joined Marlborough in 2016 as an investment analyst.
Hitchin said: “I feel incredibly lucky to have spent more than 30 years running the Marlborough Global Bond fund. I find investment markets generally, and bonds in particular, endlessly fascinating. I’ve always found it hugely interesting studying them, understanding what is happening and then trying to make the right decisions on behalf of our investors.
“It hasn’t always been a smooth ride, of course. Since I launched the fund in 1987, I’ve navigated no fewer than five crises: Black Monday in 1987, the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the bursting of the tech bubble in 2000, the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 and the pandemic in 2020. However, these experiences were valuable and taught me the importance of a patient, cautious, long-term approach, which I believe has stood the fund, and our investors, in good stead.”
Marlborough chief investment officer and deputy chairman Nicholas Cooling said: “Geoff is a hugely respected fund manager with a breadth and depth of expertise and experience in global bond markets that few in the UK, or indeed internationally, could rival. We are extremely grateful for all his efforts and everything he has achieved for investors.”
