Jonathan Jones, Editor, Trustnet, 27 February 2023:
Mid Wynd International manager and Artemis head of global equities Simon Edelsten is to retire at the end of the year, with Alex Stanic brought in to replace the veteran stockpicker.
Edelsten, who also manages the Artemis Global Select fund, will remain with the firm until the of 2023, with his replacement Stanic coming over from JP Morgan Asset Management on 1 March.
Alex Illingworth – who co-manages Mid Wynd International and Artemis Global Select with Edelsten – will also leave Artemis at the end of this month.
The £453m trust has been the fourth best performer in the IT Global sector since the pair took charge in 2014, making 180% for investors.
Meanwhile, the £381m Artemis Global Select fund has made 252.1% since the pair launched it in 2011, besting the MSCI AC World index (224.5%) and IA Global sector (182.5%).
Stanic said he and Edelsten have “very similar investment styles” and “like many of the same stocks”. The pair will work together until the latter retires to ensure an orderly handover.
James Carthew, head of investment companies at QuotedData, said investors will “have to take the board’s word for it” that there will be no significant change to the investment strategy once Stanic is at the helm.
“Given the wholesale change in the line-up, we would understand why investors would want to keep any position in the fund under review,” he said.
“Ahead of the news, the trust was trading on one of the narrowest discounts in the global sector. It may be that we see some modest widening of this in coming days.”
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