Fidelity International has hired Jupiter Asset Management’s Talib Sheikh to take over for lead portfolio manager Eugene Philalithis as he retires in 2024, while Mario Baronci joins Fidelity’s multi-asset team from Quaestio Capital Management as portfolio manager.
Philalithis, who joined Fidelity over 15 years ago, will ease out of his position by stepping down as portfolio manager on 1 January and leaving officially on 31 March. He intends to return later in the year for Fidelity as a senior adviser.
Henk-Jan Rikkerink, global head of solutions and multi asset for Fidelity International, said: “After a long and successful career in the investment industry, I’d like to thank Eugene for his exceptional contribution to Fidelity since joining in 2007 and his active part of in its evolution since then.”
Sheikh will join Fidelity by the end of this year, taking over funds including the Global Multi Asset Income fund, which holds $6.2bn (£5bn) in assets, and the Fidelity Multi Asset Income range, a set of three open-ended funds. He will manage the portfolios alongside George Efstathopoulos, who has been with Fidelity since 2011, and Becky Qin, who has been with the company over the past nine years and was promoted to portfolio manager last October.
Before his transition to Fidelity, Sheikh was the head multi-asset strategies at Jupiter Asset Management for more than four years before leaving the role in December of last year following restructuring by new CEO Matthew Beesley. Before Jupiter, Sheikh was a portfolio manager at JP Morgan for almost 20 years.
“I’m excited to be joining a team with such broad and deep investment capability and look forward to continue to deliver income-oriented solutions for the global client base,” Sheikh commented.
Baraconi will start at Fidelity in the Autumn, helping the multi-asset team specifically with capital preservation. Before Fidelity, Baraconi spent almost 10 years as head of multi asset at Quaestio Capital Management and more than 11 years at Sella Gestioni. He will be based in Italy.
“The challenges facing investors over the coming years will require a more robust investment platform and broader range of expertise along with a team-based focus when it comes to our investment process and decision-making,” Rikkerink said.
“I am therefore delighted to welcome Talib and Mario, and look forward to them working joining our existing team to continue the development of a multi asset capability that can deliver strong long-term outcomes for clients.”
