M&G Global Basics gets new lead manager

14th December 2015 - M&G Investments has promoted director of global equities, Jamie Horvat, to lead manager on their Global Basics fund. Current manager, Randeep Somel, will continue to work alongside him.

Somel took the fund on from Graham French in July 2013, in the hope that he could turn around the performance of the fund. However, as a result of its exposure to emerging markets, the fund has continued to underperform. The fund is down 5.9% this year, compared with a sector average of +1.5%. Over three years it is down 4.8% compared with a sector average of +28.3%*.

Currently, there are no plans to change the underlying philosophy of the fund, but its investment objective and policy will be reviewed to ensure they remain relevant, the group said.

M&G have said that Horvat will work with Somel to widen themes within the portfolio, continuing to identify companies that exploit new and emerging trends arising from structural shifts in the global economy, which are just as relevant in developed markets as emerging markets.

Horvat joined M&G in December 2013, and has been managing an equity portfolio for an institutional client since then.

He has over 16 years investment management experience across a variety of mandates covering the broader equity market by sector and market cap, as well as the resources and precious metals sectors while at Canadian asset managers Sprott Asset Management and AGF Management.

*Source: FE Analytics as at 14th December 2015.