Martin Currie has promoted Jo Rands to portfolio manager on over £1bn of UK equity funds.
Rands (pictured) joined the UK equity team, which is headed by Colin Morton, last September after a four-year hiatus from the industry. Prior to this she was a portfolio manager at Rathbones where she ran the Recovery fund, now called UK Opportunities, alongside Alexandra Jackson.
From 1 March, Rands will become a named manager alongside Morton, Ben Russon and Will Bradwell on the £826.4m Franklin UK Equity Income fund, £151.1m Franklin UK Rising Dividends fund and £40.2m Franklin UK Opportunities fund. She will also help run the Luxembourg-domiciled Franklin UK Equity Income fund.
Martin Currie said, given Rands’ 14 years of portfolio management experience and close involvement with the UK large cap team, now was a prudent time to add her to the strategies. In addition to Rathbones, she has also run UK equity funds at HSCB and Hermes Investment Management.
Last November Franklin Templeton announced it was transferring oversight for Morton’s UK equity team to the Martin Currie platform. The two businesses linked up following Franklin Templeton’s acquisition of Legg Mason in 2020.
