New Jupiter chief executive Andrew Formica has begun his shake-up of the business with the appointment of Magnus Spence as head of the investment trust business.
Mr Spence has been head of Jupiter’s Alternatives business since 2016 and succeeds Richard Pavry, who had been in the role for almost 20 years, according to his Linkedin profile.
Mr Pavry is leaving Jupiter to join Devon Equity Management, the fund business being set up by Alex Darwall, who is leaving Jupiter next month.
The first challenge for Mr Spence will be that Mr Darwall is taking the Jupiter European investment trust with him to his new venture, meaning the Jupiter investment trust business will lose some of its revenue and assets next month.
Mr Formica has made growing the investment trust operation a key part of his strategy, telling FTAdviser that he hopes to take investment trust mandates off American firms, which he believes have little understanding of this market in the UK.
Prominent US firms running investment trusts include Janus Henderson, which runs the City of London Investment Trust and the Lowland trust, and JP Morgan, which has the largest number of investment trusts of any provider in the UK market
Mr Formica joined Jupiter in January 2019, having previously been chief executive of Henderson Global Investors, and after that firm was merged with the US business Janus, co-chief executive of the combined entity.
Jupiter’s most recent investment trust win from another firm was the F&C US Smaller Companies investment trust, when the latter’s manager defected to Jupiter in 2015.
Mr Formica said: “Jupiter has a long and successful track record of managing equity investment companies.
"Like Jupiter, they are a particularly British proposition, and our culture of truly active investment provides a natural home for this type of vehicle.
"Our strong history of delivering both income and capital gains over many years to shareholders in our investment trust range mean we are well positioned as we continue to develop this important part of our business under Magnus’s leadership.
"Our thanks go to Richard for his valuable contribution to the success of the business over the last 20 years.”
david.thorpe@ft.com
What do you think about the issues raised by this story? Email us on fa.letters@ft.com to let us know.
