Somerset Capital Management has lured Fergus Argyle back into its fold two years after he ditched the firm for Mark Mobius’s new investment boutique.
Argyle (pictured) becomes senior analyst and assistant manager of the Somerset Frontier Markets fund, which is lead managed by George Birch-Reynardson. Before joining Mobius in July 2018, he had spent four years at Somerset.
Companies House filings show he resigned as a partner at Mobius on 3 May, the same day Kunal Desai stood down from the partnership. Both had been appointed to the partnership on 1 May 2019.
A third person, operations manager Amelia Thorne, resigned from the partnership in June, just over six months following her appointment.
A Mobius spokesperson said they are in the process of replacing Argyle.
Somerset partner and head of marketing Oliver Crawley said he was delighted Argyle was rejoining the firm. “During his time at Mobius, Fergus gained invaluable experience and we believe he will make a huge contribution to our frontier markets fund and the wider investment team. His work on company engagement has been particularly impressive and complements our own approach to ESG and sustainable investing.”
Before Somerset, Argyle worked at Herald Investment Management and Blackrock.
He said in a statement frontier markets offer “huge” opportunities. “We see significant long-term growth in the smaller emerging countries we are invested in, where the technology revolution is driving rapid change in labour force opportunities, a lack of incumbent services allows for leapfrogging, and now – as the S&P 500 reaches and breaches new highs – fewer investors are looking at the space.
“This also creates a fertile environment to actively engage with management teams: we will seek to proactively drive ESG improvement and incremental returns, alongside our tried and tested core process of investing in high quality, long-runway businesses.”
