Columbia Threadneedle’s head of UK equities, Richard Colwell (pictured), will retire in November after over 30 years in industry.
He will be succeeded by Catherine Stanley, managing director of a specialist equities team, and head of equity research Jeremy Smith, who become co-heads of UK equities.
William Davies, global CIO, said: “Richard has had a long and successful career and leaves a strong franchise and track record of delivering for our clients. He has taken a long-term approach to investing, demonstrating clear stewardship over many years.
“As a major shareholder, he has helped guide a number of notable UK companies to deliver good outcomes for all stakeholders. We thank him for his contribution to our clients and our business and wish him well for his retirement.”
Colwell has led the CT UK Equity Income Fund since 2010, which has been continually featured on Bestinvest’s buy list.
Jason Hollands, managing director of Bestinvest, said: “Richard is without doubt one of the biggest beasts in the UK equity income space and his flagship CT UK Equity Income, which he has managed consistently since inception […], is one of the longest standing funds to have held a coveted place on Bestinvest’s Best Funds List. At £3.78bn, it is by some distance the largest fund in the IA UK equity income sector.”
Prior to joining Columbia Threadneedle, Colwell had stints at Schroders, Credit Suisse and Aviva Investors.
Richard Watts, Columbia Threadneedle CIO, EMEA, said: “We place significant emphasis on succession planning and I’m pleased that Catherine and Jeremy will be leading this expanded team, which brings together the existing UK equities and specialist equities teams.
“Together these two teams create one of the largest UK equities desks comprising 21 experienced investment professionals responsible for more than £20bn.
“We believe strongly in the sharing of research, debate and challenge, and the expanded team will bring broader perspectives for the benefit of investment decision making.”
Colwell is lead manager on four funds: CT UK Equity Income, CT UK Equity Alpha Income; CT UK Equity Growth and Income and Threadneedle (Lux) UK Equity Income and co-manager on CT Monthly Extra Income Fund alongside Alasdair Ross.
Jonathan Barber is deputy manager across all five strategies.
From the end of November, Smith will assume lead manager responsibility on the four funds solo-managed by Colwell, while Barber will step up to co-manage the CT Monthly Extra Income Fund alongside Ross, with Smith assuming the deputy role.
