Wise Funds founder Tony Yarrow is retiring from the business after nearly 40 years in the industry, but fund buyers are expecting a smooth handover of funds to his replacement managers due to the firm’s long-held succession plan.
Yarrow (pictured) began his career as a financial adviser in 1984 and has been managing funds since 1988. He founded investment management company Wise Investments in 1992 before launching the first of two multi-asset funds managed by Wise Funds in 2004.
He is retiring from the business at the end of June, leaving his co-portfolio managers, Vincent Ropers and Philip Matthews, to continue managing the £65.48m Wise Multi-Asset Growth and £86.66m Wise Multi-Asset Income funds.
Yarrow will stay on as a trustee of the employee-owned company and remains an investor in both funds. The company said the move will not impact how both the funds are run.
Yarrow said: “We have been working on a succession plan for the last five years, with the appointment of first Vincent and then Philip, both of whom, as well as becoming fully conversant with our process have improved it with the knowledge and ideas they have brought to the team.
“I am lucky to be able to leave the funds I launched in 2004 (Growth) and 2005 (Income) in the hands of two such talented and experienced managers.”
The Wise Multi-Asset Growth fund has returned 94.8% over five years, compared to the IA Flexible Investment benchmark’s 50.8%, according to Trustnet. Wise’s Multi-Asset Income underperformed the same benchmark, returning 46.2% over five years.
Sensible succession planning
Willis Owen head of personal investing Adrian Lowcock said: “The retirement of a fund manager who was a key element of establishing the funds and its investment philosophy and process is always going to generate some concern among investors, but Tony Yarrow and the company have been planning for this for a long time which has allowed them to recruit and integrate the right people to take over management.”
“Matthews and Ropers will need to develop their own track record and prove themselves at running the funds on their own, however, they are likely to be well supported by the group and indeed will continue to have access to Yarrow’s expertise, so I suspect the transition will be fairly smooth,” he added.
“This has been a sensible way to do succession planning,” Fairview Investing investment consultant Ben Yearsley said. “Get your new management in early and assimilate them with clients so that when the retirement date happens there is no surprise.”
Tony Yarrow’s legacy as one of the great multi-asset investors in the UK
Ropers said: “Tony Yarrow will leave a legacy as one of the great multi-asset investors in the UK. During his long tenure on both Wise Multi-Asset Income and Wise Multi-Asset Growth funds, he has demonstrated the true value of long-term active management.
“Both Philip and I have been privileged to work alongside Tony and learn from him over the past few years. Although we will both miss working with him on a day-to-day basis, we look forward to continuing to work with him as a trustee.
“His succession has long been planned and we are confident we are in a strong position to build on the track record of delivering strong risk-adjusted returns to clients.”
