By ROBERT HARLEY 08/11/2010
Today Gartmore have announced that three senior members of staff are leaving. This follows the departure of Gervais Williams, their UK Smaller Cos manager for the last 17 years, and is a body blow to the company and its brand.
Most notable amongst these is Roger Guy, head of European Equity and an employee at Gartmore for the past 17 years, who is to retire from fund management. He is joined by Darrell O’Dea a senior portfolio manager on the European Equity desk, who only joined in May 2010 as a replacement for Guillaume Rambourg. Finally, Dominic Rossi, Chief Investment Officer is also leaving following the announcement of a severe cost cutting package.
The company has appointed Goldman Sachs to undertake an assessment of it strategic options, which it hopes to have concluded by May next year at the latest; additional equity has also been made available in an effort to retain and incentivise key staff members who remain.
Although John Bennett, the incumbent manager on the European Select Opportunities Fund, remains in place, we believe this re-organisation may have a disruptive impact on the team. We have reduced our fund rating to a hold.
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