Achilles Investment Company (AIC), the £52m closed-end fund activist, has appointed Chris Hills, former chief investment officer at Investec Wealth and Investment, as its strategic adviser.
Hills, who worked for Investec W&I for over 25 years and became chief investment consul following its acquisition by Rathbones in 2023, retired from full-time work last October. He will start his new position next month.
A former non-executive director of Henderson Opportunities Trust and Invesco Income Growth, Hills has “extensive experience of the listed investment company sector and board governance”, said Achilles chair Charlotte Denton.
At Investec Hills played a leading role in the shareholder rebellion at the former Gabelli Value Plus, publishing an open letter to the trust’s chair in 2019, criticising its poor performance, lack of communication and excessive fees.
In May Achilles announced the departure of Brett Mills, the restructuring expert who had served on the board since the company’s launch in February 2025 by Robert Naylor and Harwood Capital boss Chris Mills.
While the pair scored an early success in a campaign against Urban Logistics, leading to its sale to LondonMetric Property (LMP), the company has been quiet since then. From a 110.5p peak in July last year, the shares have drifted to 95.5p, below their 100p start price and 13% below net asset value.
