Up-and-coming fund managers the analysts are backing

While there is less of a “star” fund manager culture these days, it remains important for retail investors to have someone ultimately accountable for performance.

And while it can be tempting to simply allocate capital into the strategies of big-name investors, overlooking those whose star is rising might mean missing out.

“Investment has got a bit boring these days,” says Fairview Investing director Ben Yearsley. “Far too many of my ilk insist on seven-to-10-year track records before investing in a fund or for the fund to have £100 million, £200 million or £500 million. By adding too many obstacles, you can end up missing some great performance from up-and-coming, unheralded managers.”

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So, whose star is rising? We asked a range of fund and investment trust analysts to name rising stars who have been responsible for running money for no more than a decade.

Alexandra Jackson, Rathbones

Darius McDermott, managing director of FundCalibre, has been impressed by Rathbones’ Alexandra Jackson. She is manager of the Rathbone UK Opportunities Fund, having been appointed co-manager in June 2014 and named sole manager in August 2017.

Previously, she was assistant fund manager on the Rathbone Global Opportunities Fund. She joined Rathbones in January 2007 as an equity analyst.

“Rathbone UK Opportunities has suffered from a couple of stock-specific issues in the past, but we’ve been very impressed by Alexandra’s resilience and the fund’s subsequent outperformance,” says McDermott. “Overall performance has been good, but we think the best may be yet to come.”

He is also attracted to the fund’s low annual charge of just 0.45%.

Brian McCormick, Jupiter Asset Management

Jupiter’s Independent Funds/Merlin multi-manager team has allocated to Brian McCormick, manager of the Jupiter Global Value Equity fund, for more than two years.

“When it comes to up-and-coming fund managers, there are likely few less well known than Brian McCormick,” says investment manager David Lewis.

“Brian started his career at Stewart Investors, the quality and governance-focused Asia and emerging markets specialist, before moving to work under Ben Whitmore at Jupiter with his valuation-orientated approach. These two influences are critical to how Brian runs money today.”

He adds: “We’ve been impressed by his ability to select winning stocks, avoid major losers, [and] his thoughtful portfolio construction, which is grounded in academic research.”

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Fotis Chatzimichalakis, Impax Asset Management

James Carthew, head of investment companies at QuotedData, rates Fotis Chatzimichalakis, who joined Impax Asset Management as an intern in 2015.

Carthew says: “He’s risen through the ranks, as an equity research and environmental social and governance (ESG) analyst, and then co-portfolio manager for Impax’s specialists and climate strategies. Along the way, he became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder in 2019.

“Since 2021, he has been one of the three portfolio managers of Impax Environmental Markets Ord (LSE:IEM), the billion-pound global trust focused on cleaner or more efficient delivery of basic services of energy, water and waste. That’s quite a broad remit, covering a potential universe of around 2,500 companies to sift through to find the long-term winners.”

Jack Holmes, Artemis Fund Managers

Yearsley at Fairview suggests Jack Holmes, co-manager of the Artemis Funds (Lux) Global High Yield Bond I GBP HAcc and Artemis Fds(Lux) Short-dated Global High Yield Bond I GBP Acc H funds.

Yearsley says: “You never know when suggesting an up-and-coming manager if they’ll be offended – they might think they’ve already made it to the top – but I’m never shy of offending people.

“Jack is part of the team headed by veteran manager Stephen Snowden – a large personality by any stretch of the imagination. It could be hard to come out from under that shadow, but Jack seems to have done it well. It’s not an easy asset class to sell but the funds have performed well, and Jack isn’t afraid to move the portfolios around. At the moment, the two funds look quite similar as he thinks the opportunity is in short-dated bonds.”

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Jonathan Winton, Fidelity

Tom Bigley, a fund analyst at interactive investor, has been impressed by Fidelity’s Jonathan Winton.

Having joined Fidelity as a research analyst in the pan-European team in 2005, he gained experience covering a range of sectors including support services, small-cap technology, beverage and tobacco stocks. He was promoted to co-portfolio manager of the Fidelity UK Smaller Companies fund in 2013 and lead manager in 2019. He has also co-managed Fidelity Special Situations since 2020.

“Despite challenging market conditions for the UK smaller companies sector in recent years, the Fidelity UK Smaller Companies fund has demonstrated resilience and delivered strong performance both on an absolute and relative basis,” says Bigley.

Laura Foll, Janus Henderson Investors

Peel Hunt highlights Laura Foll, who joined Janus Henderson’s graduate scheme in 2009 and last month marked 10 years as a portfolio manager. Foll, pictured above, co-manages Henderson Opportunities Ord (LSE:HOT), Lowland Ord (LSE:LWI), Law Debenture Corporation Ord (LSE:LWDB) and Janus Henderson UK Equity Income & Growth.

Anthony Leatham, Peel Hunt’s head of investment trust research, says: “Having interacted with Laura throughout the years, I can see why she’s generated such consistent outperformance – her approach is diligent and her ability to clearly articulate portfolio performance, positioning and outlook is very helpful for investors and fund analysts, particularly when supported by detailed stock-specifics at every turn.”

Liam Nunn, Schroders

Canaccord Wealth rates Liam Nunn, who started his career at Premier Asset Management before joining Schroders in August 2011. At Schroders, he has been a member of several teams, including the pan-European core large-cap and UK equity teams.

He currently co-manages several mainstream strategies, including Schroder Global Sustainable Value, Schroder Global Recovery and Schroder Global Equity Income.

Kamal Warraich, head of fund research at Canaccord Wealth, says: “We have our exposure to Liam through the latter, and we continue to rate his skill set, and the rigour he brings to the wider team and process.”

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Saurabh Sharma, JO Hambro Capital Management

For wealth manager WH Ireland, Saurabh Sharma has demonstrated an ability to generate alpha during his relatively short time running money at Fidelity and more recently JO Hambro Capital Management.

He has been a named manager on the Regnan Sustainable Water and Waste fund since launch in September 2021.

“Thematics and water, and waste in particular, are gaining greater interest and traction with asset allocators,” says Ollie Clark, deputy head of research at WH Ireland. “Saurabh’s resolute process will continue to generate outperformance in what’s already an exciting theme characterised by strong returns.

“The icing on the cake for Saurabh’s candidacy as a future star fund manager is his dynamism and articulation, which will continue to attract interest and inflows.”

Sujaya Desai, Stewart Investors

Having joined Stewart Investors as a graduate in October 2016, Sujay Desai became deputy manager of the Stewart Investors Global Emerging Markets All Cap fund in February 2019, co-manager in December 2020 and lead manager in May 2023.

“Desai has been actively involved in idea generation and position sizing for the GEM (global emerging markets) products over the past few years,” says Bigley at interactive investor. “She’s part of a team of 13, which demonstrate a wealth of experience in this sector and the team’s quality-focused investment philosophy is clearly ingrained in her.”

The fund takes a bottom-up approach to investing in high-quality businesses that contribute to or benefit from sustainable development across emerging regions and can be found on ii’s ACE 40 list of investment ideas.

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Swetha Ramachandran, Artemis Fund Managers

FundCalibre sees strengths in Swetha Ramachandran, who manages the Artemis Leading Consumer Brands fund and co-manages the Artemis Global Select fund.

She joined Artemis from GAM in September 2023 where she was manager of the GAM Multistock Luxury Brands Equity fund from 2019 to August 2023, having joined the firm in 2012 as an analyst.

“We believe the Artemis Leading Consumer Brands strategy is in very capable hands under Swetha and the rest of her team,” says McDermott. “The benchmark-agnostic, unconstrained nature of the fund gives the team the freedom to be nimble and take advantage of the best opportunities they see across different luxury brands.”