Sujay Kodilkeri will become the new manager of the Fidelity American Fund, taking over from Aditya Khowala who has run it since Peter Kaye’s departure in 2015.
The £949m fund’s investment style will also be altered, moving away from growth towards a “more neutral style” to give it more flexibility to deal with fast-moving markets, the firm said.
The fund has underperformed the US Large-Cap Blend Equity Morningstar category over one, three, five and ten years.
It also featured in BestInvest’s 2016 list of ‘dog funds’ due to its poor track record, underperforming by more than 5% for at least three consecutive years.
Kodilkeri was formerly manager of Fidelity’s US Equity Pilot Fund and the firm said his balanced style of investment was more suited to the fund’s new modified style.
He will take on managing the fund on 1 June this year.
In a statement Fidelity said: “Sujay has proved himself as a talented stock-picker by managing Fidelity’s US Equity Pilot Fund since November 2014, generating excess cumulative returns of 3.7% gross of fees.
“His investment style throughout his investment tenure has been more balanced and therefore is suited to the fund’s modified investment style.”
It confirmed Khowala will continue to manage the Fidelity Funds American Growth and FAST US SICAV fund.
