Bankers Trust Retains Rating Following Manager Promotion

Henderson Head of Global Equities Graham Kitchen is leaving the firm following the merger with Janus. Bankers Trust manager Alex Crooke will be promoted

Emma Wall 13 December, 2017 | 10:59AM
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Emma Wall: Hello and welcome to the Morningstar Series 'Ask The Expert'. I'm Emma Wall and I'm joined today by Morningstar's Pete Brunt, to talk about Graham Kitchen's departure from Henderson.

Hi Pete.

Peter Brunt: Hi Emma.

Wall: So, Graham Global Head of Equities for Janus Henderson is leaving.

Brunt: That’s right. So, Janus Henderson they merged in May this year and it's not unexpected to see departures when two big fund houses are joining forces. But I guess what's important is our view of the parent in terms of our ratings hasn’t changed we still view it neutrally. Its kind of watching brief at the moment. So, we are just seeing how things are going there.

Wall: And who will replace him, because this role in effect being split into two, isn’t it?

Brunt: That’s right. So, obviously Janus being big American company and Henderson being based in Europe. I think it probably makes sense to have two people based in each region. In America overseeing the U.S. operations, equity operations is this gentleman called George Maris. And in London Alex Crooke will be taking the global co-head of equities role.

Wall: And Alex runs a number of portfolios including Bankers Trust which we rate. Is that going to impact the rating with him stepping up with these more responsibilities.

Brunt: So, our view is that though the rating will not change. And that will be because well, the change isn’t happening until March 2018, during which time there is a transitionary period. Alex Crooke is a very experienced man who's been managing portfolios for a very long time. He's been at Henderson since 1994.

He's also been involved at a senior sort of management level for a very long time too. He was made the Head of Global Equity Income in 2012. So, we are already aware of his management responsibilities. When that transition takes place, he will no longer be the Head of Global Equity Income. Ben Lofthouse who already works very closely alongside Alex will be taking that role.

And so overall, we feel that net-net we are okay with the rating staying where it is. But we'll be going into the beginning of next year and we'll be making another assessment then.

Wall: And I suppose it's just worth reiterating what you told at the beginning of this video. Which is when you do see a merger of this size these departures are part of the course.

Brunt: They are, we just have to make sure that we are on top of the impact to funds that we're rating and currently Bankers is one where it's directly impacted because Alex is the named manager. We obviously rate a number of other Janus Henderson funds, but our view is that this would have a meaningful impact on their management.

Wall: Pete thank you very much.

Brunt: You are welcome.

Wall: This is Emma Wall from Morningstar. Thank you for watching. 

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security NamePriceChange (%)Morningstar
Rating
Bankers Ord111.40 GBX0.54Rating

About Author

Emma Wall  is former Senior International Editor for Morningstar

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