De Blonay takes over Jupiter financial opps

4 November 2010 | By Chris Salih

Philip Gibbs is passing his £1bn Jupiter financial opportunities fund over to Guy de Blonay from January 2011.

De Blonay joined Jupiter from Henderson in January and he has been co-manager on the fund since June.

Last month, OBSR cut its rating on the financial opportunities fund to AA due to De Blonay’s “increasing influence on the product”.

An OBSR statement said: “We believe an AA rating is at this stage a more appropriate reflection of our comfort in the long-term risk-reward profile that we expect De Blonay to deliver.”

De Blonay says: “I am looking forward to building on the track record of the fund and continuing to deliver outperformance for unitholders over the med-ium to long term.

“The financials sector remains a diverse and attractive area in which to invest and presents significant opportunities on a global basis for investors.”

Gibbs has managed the fund since its launch in 1997. It has produced a return of 766 per cent since launch, according to figures from Financial Express to the end of September 2010.

The move allows Gibbs to focus on the management of the £634m Jupiter absolute return fund and the £170m international financial fund. He will also continue to manage the second split investment trust.

Skerritt Consultants head of investment Andy Merricks says Gibbs’ decision to focus more on the absolute return fund is understandable.

He says: “The fund has struggled and it may be a case of Philip wanting to spend more time turning that offering around. The funds are fundamentally different from each other.”

Hargreaves Lansdown investment manager Ben Yearsley adds: “Guy is a top-drawer manager who we rated in his time at Henderson and we continue to do so now.”

If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Money Marketing and Follow @_moneymarketing