Blue Whale Capital has hired a sales manager from Artemis as it ramps up its recruitment drive.
The Peter Hargreaves-backed boutique said that Tom Skinner has been appointed as relationship manager in its latest monthly press update.
Skinner had been at Artemis for close to seven years and was responsible for clients in the West Midlands, Birmingham and the North of England and Scotland. At Blue Whale he will be working closely with existing relationship manager Eduard Mallia.
Blue Whale managing partner and CIO Stephen Yiu (pictured left) also hails from Artemis, having spent four years as a manager on the UK Select and Pan European Hedge funds from 2009 to 2013.
In December Blue Whale announced it was going on a hiring spree after Yiu’s Blue Whale Growth fund saw its assets more than triple during the Covid crisis. The fund currently has around £740.9m in assets.
Mallia told Portfolio Adviser Blue Whale was hoping to raise its headcount from eight to 12 by the end of Q2.
In addition to hiring Skinner, the firm has already recruited a business associate this year and is currently recruiting for a compliance associate and a junior investment analyst.
Commenting on Skinner’s appointment, Yiu said: “We are delighted to welcome Tom to Blue Whale. He brings a wealth of experience to the team and will greatly help our efforts to communicate Blue Whale’s long term investment approach to the investment community.”
Over the last three years Blue Whale Growth has returned 82.7% versus the IA Global’s 48.7%. Recently the US equities and tech heavy fund has seen performance slide thanks to the cyclical rotation sparked by the Covid vaccine rollout, returning 5% versus peers’ 13.6% gains.
