Tim Day and Chris Ford will arrive at the firm on 11 May to take joint-charge of the S&W North American Trust and UCITS-qualified Mid Ocean World Investment Fund.
Current manager of the trust, Robert Royle, is subsequently transferring to a portfolio management position in Smith & Williamson’s private client arm, while trust steward Lady Tana Focke has announced her retirement.
David Hunter will move from the Mid Ocean fund to take on other portfolio responsibilities within the firm.
Day and Ford will continue to utilise the bottom-up, high-conviction approach employed by the former managers, assisted by Vinay Raval from the firm’s global investment team.
The pair join from Pictet Asset Management, where they ran the firm’s CH World Equities Fund, where they registered a cumulative five-year performance of 34.5% against a sector average of 25.9%.
Ed Rosengarten, Smith & Williamson’s head of funds business, said: “Our equity managers are characterised by bottom-up, high-conviction investing, within a disciplined framework.
“This is combined with an awareness of underlying market themes, and the skill and experience to bring this all together. Day and Ford are excellent exponents of this approach.”
