Losing Cormac Weldon and Stephen Moore to Artemis is a significant blow to Threadneedle then, not least given that the retail American and American Select funds together account for some £4.7bn in assets under management.
Threadneedle’s funds may not necessarily be mainstays in the way that, say, countless stockpickers once followed Legg Mason’s Bill Miller or today hold the revered Findlay Park American, but performance has been encouraging.
This is particularly true in the generally rising market since 2008, where small and mid-cap exposure has helped boost returns. Since taking on American Select in November 2001, Weldon has delivered a total return of around 103%, according to FE Analytics. This compares to around 75% from his North American fund peer group.
Belief in innovation
Style agnostic, Weldon’s 17 years at Threadneedle has been defined by his belief in the strength of innovation in the US, latterly in the technology and biotech sectors, which has delivered sector outperformance in a macro-driven world.
The challenge comes in proving himself at Artemis – very stockpicking driven, as its marketing reminds us – in a year where risk/on, risk/off is unlikely to play such a big role as it has in the past.
Artemis has never been a house to roll out countless new funds, but having launched its Global Income, European Opportunities and Global Select funds to some success in the past three years, it will be interesting to see how it dips its toes into North America for the first time.
An American-owned powerhouse, Threadneedle at least can benefit from its ties with Columbia Management, a US-based subsidiary of its parent Ameriprise Financial. It is important that it maintains its London team though as a focal point for UK wealth managers.
From April, this new-look team will be led by Diane Sobin, herself once of Columbia Management, and she like Weldon and Moore faces a tough challenge ahead to keep investors on side.
