The Schroders Tokyo fund has been removed from the Adviser Centre's 'recommended' fund list following the announcement that its manager Andrew Rose manager is set to retire at the end of June 2019.
The Adviser Centre organises active funds in to three categories “Recommended” “Established” and “Positive Watch”. The first category consist of funds “worthy of advisers’ attention because, as well as having clearly articulated positive attributes and utility features, they have capacity to grow their assets under management and also feature widely on fund platforms.”
The researcher has removed the fund from its list at this stage only as a precaution to see how the change of management affects the fund’s performance.
Gill Hutchison, research director, at The Adviser Centre, said: “Back-up manager Masaki Taketsume will assume formal responsibility for the fund from 1 July 2019. He will be supported by Nathan Gibbs, who is investment director for Japanese equities and a long-standing member of the team. As part of the succession plan, Mr Taketsume has been working with Mr Rose for a number of years; he relocated to London in 2017, working more closely with him in preparation for this announcement.
“There are no plans to change the investment philosophy or the process, which rely heavily upon the firm’s extensive internal research capability. Mr Taketsume began his investment career in 1994 and has been a member of Schroders’ Japanese Equity team since 2007.”
However, Schroders does not seem phased by the change. Nicky Richards, global head of equities at Schroders said: “Andrew is one of the most respected and long-standing Japanese equity fund managers in the industry, we would like to thank him for his commitment to Schroders and our clients.
“We are confident that Masaki’s fund management expertise, supported by investment director Nathan Gibbs and the wider Japanese equities team, will ensure investment continuity for our clients.”
Some of the Tokyo fund’s top holdings are car manufacturer Toyota Motor Corporation, Japanese bank and financial services company Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Japanese telecommunications company Nippon Telegraph & Telephone.
It has an Ongoing Charge Figure (OCF) of 1.66 percent. Mr Rose also manages the Schroder Japan Growth Trust.
The Adviser Centre, launched in 2014, is an online, fund research and investment consultancy service which features analysis and information on actively-managed funds, selected from the whole of the market. It is dedicated to supporting financial professionals in their fund selection work, with a special emphasis on helping with the assessment of fund suitability.
Schroders is an asset manager founded in 1804 and is responsible for £449.4 billion of assets for their clients.
