Jupiter Asset Management has appointed Mark Heslop as a European equity manager and small company specialist, and will launch a European small companies fund for him later this year. Mr Heslop joins from Columbia Threadneedle where he has worked for nearly 10 years, and managed Threadneedle European Smaller Companies Fund (GB00B84CYY92) since January 2013. He is the second manager to have moved from Columbia Threadneedle to Jupiter in recent weeks following the appointment of Mark Nichols, former manager of Threadneedle European Select (GB00B8BC5H23), as manager of Jupiter European (GB00B5STJW84).
Jupiter said Mr Heslop’s record made him a prime choice to manage a European smaller companies fund. Threadneedle European Smaller Companies Fund has returned 136 per cent since Mr Heslop started managing it, versus 114 per cent for EMIX Smaller European Companies index and the Investment Association (IA) European Smaller Companies sector average return of 111 per cent during that time.
Stephen Pearson, chief investment officer at Jupiter, said: “With a long and high-quality track record in this specialist sector, Mr Heslop’s experience will add further strength to our European equity capability and broaden our product range in this important asset class.”
Darius McDermott, managing director of fund rating agency FundCalibre, added: “Over five years Threadneedle European Smaller Companies is the top-performing fund [in its sector] and has delivered 25 percentage points more than the sector average. It is also a very consistent performer. This is a good move for Jupiter and further strengthens its European equity capability.”
Columbia Threadneedle, meanwhile, has appointed Philip Dicken, its head of European equities, as new lead manager of Threadneedle European Smaller Companies. Mine Tezgul, a European small-cap analyst, will be deputy manager of the fund – her first manager position. Mr Heslop also ran an offshore fund, Threadneedle Global Smaller Companies (LU0570871375), which will now have Scott Woods as its lead manager. He was previously deputy manager of that fund.
Jupiter's appointment of Mr Nichols to replace outgoing Jupiter European manager Alex Darwall, and the expansion of its European equity business via the hire of Mr Heslop has been detrimental to Columbia Threadneedle. David Dudding, co-manager of Threadneedle European Select, is continuing in this role alongside a new co-manager, Ben Moore. But Mr Dudding also runs Threadneedle Global Focus (GB00BF0Q8K85) and the plan was for him to increasingly focus on this and eventually step down from Threadneedle European Select, of which Mr Nichols would become lead manager.
“This is a second disappointment for Threadneedle, but it still has David Dudding, who ran the European Smaller Companies Fund before Mr Heslop," said Mr McDermott. "And this fund is being handed over to an experienced stockpicker – Philip Dicken.”
| Fund/benchmark | 1-year total return (%) | 3-year cumulative total return (%) | 5-year cumulative total return (%) |
| Threadneedle European Smaller Companies | -1.63 | 39.4 | 50.76 |
| EMIX Smaller European Companies index | -1.63 | 39.4 | 50.76 |
| MSCI Europe Small Cap index | -2.14 | 40.52 | 58.97 |
| IA European Smaller Companies sector average | 2.87 | 51.45 | 86.67 |
Source: FE Analytics as at 23/04/2019
