After 33 years with the company and 17 years as Manager of Foreign & Colonial’s Investment Trust (FCIT), Jeremy Tigue has announced his intention to stand aside with a view to retiring at the end of 2014. Andrew Sullivan reports:
The trust, which was established some 140 years ago, is currently valued at around £2.6 billion and has shown consistently healthy growth under Tigue’s stewardship.
A graduate of Oxford University and a member of the CFA Society of the UK, Tigue also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. According to FCIT’s chairman Simon Fraser, at the end of 2013 a £1,000 investment made at the time of Mr Tigue’s appointment would now be worth £3,215, with dividends reinvested, compared to £2,697 from the FTSE All World index.
“It has been a privilege to be responsible for FCIT’s record of growth over the last 17 years,” said Tigue, “and as the portfolio becomes more global, private equity generates cash and the debenture approaches maturity, FCIT is in a strong position.”
He is to be replaced by Paul Niven, currently head of multi-asset investment at F&C and chair of their asset allocation committee. Chairman Simon Fraser observed “We are confident that Paul is strongly placed to build on the historic success of the Trust”, while Jason Hollands of BestInvest noted that FCIT “has proved a solid, well-diversified core investment with an impeccable record of dividend growth. Paul Niven should prove a safe pair of hands on this flagship Trust.”
The announcement comes a month after F&C agreed a £708m bid from Canadian asset managers BMO Global.
