Both are “special” funds in the UK All Companies universe, each with assets above £2bn. Investors will be forgiven for being hesitant in investing today though, with both funds having recently brought in new managers.
Alex Wright took on Fidelity Special Situations from Sanjeev Shah at the beginning of this year, while Richard Plackett has handed over BlackRock UK Special Situations to Roland Arnold while he takes a six-month sabbatical. As with the case of any manager who steps down from a fund for a lengthy period of time, investors have no guarantees that Plackett will return.
We asked experienced fund pickers Gavin Haynes, investment director at Whitechurch Securities, and Richard Philbin, chief investment officer at Harwood Multi Manager, to rate the funds on our five-point criteria: overall long-term track record; the fund managers; when the funds outperformed; when the funds underperformed and charges. But will we have a winner?
