Commenting on the announcement that Gary Potter is to retire from fund management at the end of Q1 2022, Darius McDermott, managing director of FundCalibre (pictured), said:
“There are very few fund managers who can say they’ve built three fund of fund businesses into billion pound franchises during their career.
“But that is exactly what Gary Potter has done alongside Robert Burdett in the past 25 years. After taking the fund of funds business at Rothschild from £110m to more than £1bn, the pair then built a market-leading franchise from scratch at both Credit Suisse Asset Management and Thames River, with the latter subsequently being bought by BMO (then F&C) back in 2010.
“The fact they have managed to achieve such success is testament to their long-term performance through numerous market cycles – you do not build numerous fund of fund franchises with a strong adviser and retail following without it.
“They’ve also proven their ability to evolve to changes in the fund of funds space and have continued to stand out in what is now a proliferated area of the market. Ultimately there will be a lot of people who will be grateful to have been investing with them during their time together.
“We wish Gary well after his 40 years in the industry and remain confident in Rob and his eight-strong team at BMO, many of whom are senior partners in the business, a number of whom have spent 15 or so years in the team.
“The fact that Gary will also be available as a consultant to the management team gives us additional confidence and, as a result, the BMO MM Navigator Distribution fund will retain its Elite Rating.”
