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Fund Research & Insights

Fund Times: 24 - 28 May

First State’s Head of Global Resources Resigns; Cavendish Extends UK Equity Line-up; PSigma Bolsters UK Equity Team; Aberdeen Appoints New Head of Property; First State Launches UK-Domiciled Agriculture Fund; Morningstar Qualitative Ratings and Reports Issued This Week.

Chetan Modi 28 May, 2010 | 3:49PM
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First State’s Head of Global Resources Resigns
David Whitten will relinquish his role as Head of Global Resources at First State on 30 June 2010 to take a career break. Joanne Warner, who has been part of the Sydney-based team since August 1997, will succed Whitten. Warner is a senior portfolio manager and has held the day-to-day responsibilities for all the publicly offered, long only global resources funds in Australia, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong since November 2006. The UK-domiciled First State Global Resources is rated Superior by Morningstar analysts but the rating will be reassessed following a meeting with Joanne Warner early next month. First State will be hiring two senior investment analysts and an investment manger to bolster the team’s analytical capabilities.

Cavendish Extends UK Equity Line-up
Cavendish Asset Management has this week launched two UK equity funds, Cavendish UK Balanced Income and Cavendish UK Select. The Balanced Income portfolio holds both equity and bond holdings and aims to deliver 120% of the FTSE All Share Index yield. It is run by Julian Lewis, who is the firm’s Chief Investment Officer and manager of Cavendish Worldwide. Lewis has amassed an impressive record on board the Worldwide fund, which he has run since its launch in 1994. The fund has resided in the top-quintile of its Morningstar Global Large-Cap Blend Equity category over the trailing 1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 year periods. Paul Mumford, manager of Cavendish Opportunities, has taken charge of the UK Select fund. Mumford has also driven the fund to excellent results over his 20-year tenure, although the Opportunities fund is a small-cap offering and he will now be looking at stocks much higher-up the market-cap scale for the UK Select fund, whose investment universe is the FTSE 350.

PSigma Bolsters UK Equity Team
PSigma Asset Management has hired Eric Moore to strengthen its UK equity capabilities. Moore joins the firm after five years at Insight Investment Management where he was director of UK equities; he also spent ten years at Gartmore Investment Management. Moore will work alongside Bill Mott - head of PSigma’s UK equity team - Neil Cumming, David Hallam and Niall Coyne.

Aberdeen Appoints New Head of Property
Aberdeen has hired Andrew Smith as the group’s head of property and he will take on the role with immediate effect. He replaces Rickard Backlund who will step down from his responsibilities in September 2010. Smith joined Aberdeen as head of investment strategy in 2002 and was previously CIO and head of fund management in the property team.        

First State Launches UK-Domiciled Agriculture Fund
First State Investments has launched a UK-domiciled version of its Global Agribusiness fund which mirrors the offshore version launched last month. The fund is managed by Renzo Casarotto and Skye Macpherson who aim to invest in companies involved in the production, processing and marketing of agriculture products.

Morningstar Qualitative Ratings and Reports Issued This Week
Morningstar issued new qualitative ratings and reports on a number of funds available to UK investors this week, including Invesco Perpetual High Income, BGF Euro Bond, Legg Mason US Equity and Fidelity Funds European Dynamic Growth. Click here to see the full list.

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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About Author

Chetan Modi  is a fund analyst at Morningstar OBSR.

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