Ben Whitmore: Jupiter’s former star stockpicker launches inaugural fund
Star fund manager Ben Whitmore has launched his inaugural fund within his new boutique asset manager.
Last year, Whitmore made a shock exit from Jupiter Asset Management, where he handled around a fifth of the firm’s assets.
News of his exit sent Jupiter’s shares down nearly 15 per cent in a single day, and the fund house has continued to struggle with a mass exodus of investors.
Kevin Murphy, who spent more than two decades at Schroders before joining the boutique last year, will also manage Whitmore’s new fund.
Whitmore founded Brickwood Asset Management last year with two other former Jupiter employees, Brickwood CEO Claudia Ripley and manager Dermot Murphy, who is also Kevin Murphy’s brother.
Brickwood’s new fund, the TM Brickwood UK Value Fund, will focus on the value space. Both managers have built their reputations in the sector.
The fund aims to outperform the FTSE All Share benchmark on a rolling five-year time frame.
Whitmore’s flagship fund at Jupiter, the £596m Jupiter Global Value Equity fund, returned 50.5 per cent over the last five years, compared to just 28 per cent for the FTSE All Share.
The former manager’s old fund at Jupiter is now run by Brian McCormick, who previously managed a Luxembourg-domiciled version of the fund.
“We are pleased to be launching Brickwood’s first fund. Our long history of value investing combined with the low valuations we are currently seeing makes it an opportune moment for the fund launch,” Whitmore said.
“At Brickwood, we have brought together some of the most highly regarded and experienced value fund managers in the industry. We believe the breadth of knowledge and depth of expertise is really compelling,” added CEO Ripley.
“Our ultimate purpose is to become the home of value investing in the UK, and we aim to achieve this by continuing to focus on our strong, long term client relationships and delivering attractive long term investment returns for our clients.”