Marathon to run Witan pan-European portfolio
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Witan Investment trust has appointed Marathon Asset Management to run a pan-European portfolio, which combines part of MAM’s former UK-only mandate with the existing Europe ex UK portfolio previously run by Wellington Management.
It is the first change since Witan restructured its management team in October of last year and one of only two full management changes since the trust adopted a multi-manager approach.
“Wellington had a very good year last year - it was a strong year for its particular style”
Andrew Bell, the chief executive, says the trust wanted to move to a pan-European approach and improve performance on the European equity part of the trust portfolio.
He adds: “Wellington had a very good year last year - it was a strong year for its particular style. However, previous years’ performance had been weak. We also felt that it made more sense to have the choice of stocks across Europe rather than restricting it to the UK.”
Bell says the board was encouraged by MAM’s consistency in pan-European equities and the group had performed well in its British mandates. He says the group is looking for “consistency, a robust methodology, a sound culture and stability of ownership” when selecting managers.
The move does reduce the amount of the trust allocated specifically to UK equities, which is still managed by MAM and Artemis. MAM will have a flexible mandate and will not be restricted by benchmark limits on geographic allocation. Bell says the trust will use index futures to manage overall geographic exposure on the trust.
MAM takes a stockpicking approach, looking for industries which have been starved of investment and avoiding sectors where over-investment is likely to be diluted away. Varenne Capital Partners is Witan’s other pan-European manager and will continue to run a smaller private equity style portfolio.
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