A former senior fund manager at Aviva Investors, Simon Young, is set to replace Jamie Forbes-Wilson as manager of the Axa Framlington Blue Chip Equity Income mandate later this month.
The fund, which currently stands at £85.2m, has been run by Forbes-Wilson since it was launched in February 2009.
Flailing performance
Forbes-Wilson’s fund has lagged peers in the IA UK Equity Income sector in recent years, ranking third quartile over three and five years.
Over one year it has returned 1.8% versus the sector’s 3.4% putting it in the segment of weakest UK equity income performers.
It has returned 187.26% to investors since launch, marginally better than the IA UK Equity Income sector average return of 187.18%.
Management shakeup
Axa said the management shakeup will allow Forbes-Wilson to concentrate on the Axa Distribution funds that he has been co-managing alongside Matthew Huddart since February 2016. The multi-asset range oversees £2.5bn across five funds including an ‘ethical’ and ‘defensive’ mandate.
The move follows other significant reshuffles within Axa Investment Managers’ UK equities team.
Earlier this year it was announced that the group would be losing its linchpin UK equities manager Nigel Thomas who is due to retire by the end of 2018.
Chris St John will succeed Thomas and take over the £2.95bn UK Select Opportunities fund. He currently runs the Axa Framlington UK Mid-cap fund.
UK equities push
Young will officially join on 17 September, bringing the UK equities team on the Framlington Equities platform to eight.
Rob Bailey, head of UK wholesale distribution, said Young’s appointment demonstrates Axa IM’s commitment to UK equity strategies.
Young co-ran the Aviva Investors UK Equity and the RBS Growth funds for a two-year stint between 2015 and 2017. He began his career at Blackrock where he oversaw more than £1.5bn in UK equity income and UK equity mandates during his 18 years with the firm.
He joins from investor relations consultancy firm Heartwood Partners, which he co-found.
“Our offering continues to be a flagship fund range for our clients and with this addition we seek to strengthen our income proposition and provide important additional resource,” said Bailey on Young’s appointment. “This hire will help grow our assets further in the UK equity income space, with Simon working closely with George Luckraft on our successful UK equity income range. Simon brings significant additional large cap equity investing experience to the team, he comes with new ideas and a fresh perspective that will complement the existing skill set.”
