Colin Morton is ready to retire from Martin Currie effective 31 December 2022. His role at Martin Curries’ UK equities will be split in two.
Colin Morton has been present within the British investment management business for over 39 years. Morton has been a part of Martin Currie since 2011. Back then, Franklin Templeton bought Rensburg Fund Management, which was further relaunched as Martin Currie UK Equity team.
From 1 October, Richard Bullas and Ben Russon will take over his position as heads of the UK equity team. Russon will focus more on UK large-caps while Bullas will lead on small and mid-caps.
Moreover, portfolio managers Jo Rands and Will Bradwell will answer to Russon. On the other hand, Bullas will supervise portfolio managers Marcus Tregoning and Dan Green. Russon and Bullas will answer to Michael Browne who is in charge of the worldwide investment strategy and oversight at Martin Currie.
Also, Morton will need to hand over his portfolio manager authority on the funds he is appointed to, like UK managers’ focus fund, UK opportunities fund, UK equity income fund, and Luxembourg-based UK equity income fund.
In his stead, Jo Rands will get the role of lead manager on both the UK and Luxembourg-based UK equity funds. Furthermore, Rands will take over Morton’s position as a co-chair on the UK managers’ focus fund.
Ben Yearsley, who is an investment consultant for Fairview Investing, said that “for someone with a 25 year experience on one fund, it had been surprising that Colin Morton’s fund was not much bigger than it was”.
He added that the “team up in Leeds had been an excellent one to invest with over the years and also the transition from original team members to new ones had been handled well”.
After Morton’s retirement, seven investment professionals with 106 years of combined industrial experience will comprise the UK equity team in Leeds.
