Royal London Asset Management UK equity income veteran Martin Cholwill is to retire from the business later this year.
Cholwill, who is portfolio manager of the £1.7bn Royal London UK Equity Income fund, will step down after almost 40 years in the industry, including more than 37 years managing a range of UK equity funds. RLAM said an exact date for his departure is not yet known.
Cholwill (pictured) joined RLAM in 2005, having managed a similar fund at Axa Investment Managers.
RLAM said that Richard Marwood, deputy manager of the fund since 2016, will become co-fund manager with Cholwill until his retirement before stepping into the role as lead manager. Niko de Walden will become deputy manager.
Marwood, who worked closely with Cholwill at Axa IM, is also co-manager of the £900m Royal London UK Dividend Growth fund, alongside de Walden.
RLAM said Marwood’s appointment to lead the Royal London UK Equity Income fund provided “extremely strong continuity in approach and investment philosophy”.
Fundcalibre drops fund’s Elite rating
Following Cholwill’s departure Fundcalibre said it had decided to axe the fund’s Elite rating.
Fund Calibre managing director Darius McDermott said that while replacement manager Marwood had been a deputy manager on the fund for a while, the performance track record had been down to Cholwill. “As such, the fund will have to lose its Elite rating.”
McDermott added: “Martin has been a superb manager over the years, and we wish him well for his retirement.”
‘As clean a handover as one can get’
Willis Owen head of personal investing Adrian Lowcock said: “Martin Cholwill’s retirement will naturally be disappointing news for investors, but Royal London are well placed to manage the handover and there is plenty of time, so investors don’t need to panic and sell the fund.
“New manager Richard Marwood has worked closely for many years with Martin at Royal London and previous employers. He runs the UK Dividend Growth fund on a similar philosophy and process and has also stepped in to support on previous occasions, so this is as clean a handover as one can get.”
