Jupiter has once again raided Columbia Threadneedle to build up its European equities team with Phil Macartney set to join the asset manager in September.
Macartney currently works in the UK equities team at Columbia Threadneedle but will join his former colleagues, Mark Nichols and Mark Heslop (pictured), in the European equities team. Nichols and Heslop both exited Columbia Threadneedle in 2019 replacing Alexander Darwall, who exited to start his own boutique.
Macartney is co-manager of the £55m Threadneedle Mid-250 fund and deputy manager of the £108m UK long-short Threadneedle UK Absolute Alpha fund. He has worked at Columbia Threadneedle for five years, having previously been the founding member of a pan-European equity hedge fund, Bramshott Capital.
A Columbia Threadneedle spokesperson said James Thorne, who has been co-manager of the Threadneedle UK Mid 250 fund since 2013, will now become lead manager with Craig Adey becoming deputy. Thorne already manages the Threadneedle UK Smaller Companies fund.
See also: Further blow for Columbia Threadneedle team as Quilter Investors yanks Europe mandate
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At Jupiter, Macartney will report to Nichols and Heslop, supporting the the £4.6bn Jupiter European fund, €1.3bn Jupiter European Growth fund and the company’s European smaller companies fund, launched earlier this year. He will also work alongside assistant fund manager Sohil Chotai and equities analyst Nikisha Mistry, who will be among 40 investment professionals joining from Merian Global Investors later this year.
The European franchise has been described as ripe for fund mergers once Jupiter and Merian officially combine later this year.
Nichols described Macartney as “an exceptional talent, possessed of an inquisitive mind” with an “aptitude for bottom-up stock selection”.
Jupiter CIO Stephen Pearson added: “The appointments of Mark Nichols and Mark Heslop in 2019 marked a real turning point for our European Growth strategy and we have been delighted to see the strategy go from strength to strength ever since, continuing to deliver strong returns for investors despite a very challenging market backdrop.
“As the strategy continues to grow we are pleased to be adding further high quality resource to this important management team.”
