The JP Morgan American investment trust (JAM) has selected three new co-managers to work on the portfolio, ahead of manager Jonathan Simon’s retirement early next year.
Simon, who has worked at JP Morgan for 44 years and co-managed the trust alongside Timothy Parton since 2019, will be joined by Jack Caffrey on analysing the large-cap value tocks in the portfolio, while Eric Ghernati will work with Felise Agranoff on large-cap growth stocks.
New York-based Caffrey, who has 33 years of industry experience, is currently portfolio manager of the JP Morgan Focused Dividend Growth strategy. Ghernati joined JP Morgan in 2020 and is responsible for the technology sector of the JP Morgan Mid Cap Growth and Small Cap Growth strategies. He is also co-portfolio manager of the JP Morgan US Technology strategy. He has 25 years of investment experience.
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Agranoff, who joined JP Morgan in 2004, is a portfolio manager on the JP Morgan Growth Advantage, Mid Cap Growth and Mid Cap Equity strategies.
In a stock exchange announcement published today (7 August), JAM’s board said: “Jonathan will continue with his existing responsibilities until his retirement. Following this announcement, the board was able to visit the manager’s offices in New York and held a series of meetings with the portfolio managers and other senior members of the manager’s US equities investment team.
“The board believes in the merit of additional portfolio manager resources and considers that the company will benefit from four portfolio managers (two growth, two value) on the large-cap portfolio as a key element of the company’s ongoing management structure.”
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Simon, whose first career in investment began as an analyst at JP Morgan’s London office in 1980, is also the lead portfolio manager of the JP Morgan Mid Cap Value fund, the JP Morgan Value Advantage fund and the JP Morgan Equity Focus fund. He first became a portfolio manager in 1987.
JAM, which is a constituent of the FTSE 250 index, has achieved top-quartile total returns over one, three and 10 years, and a second-quartile gain over five years. Over three years, it tripled the return of its average peer in the IT North America sector with a total return of 45.7%, according to FE Fundinfo data.
