FE fundinfo Alpha Manager Julian Fosh has retired after more than 40 years in the asset management industry, 16 of which were with Liontrust. Since 2008 he has worked alongside fellow Alpha Manager Anthony Cross developing the economic advantage process.
He has run the flagship £2.7bn Liontrust Special Situations fund alongside Cross since 2008, as well as the £852m Liontrust UK Smaller Companies fund. The pair took over the funds on the same day and both have been top-quartile performers in the IA UK All Companies and IA UK Smaller Companies sectors respectively since.
Performance of funds vs sectors since managers start
Source: FE Analytics
Fosh had been on a leave of absence since October having suffered “an unexpected and severe bout of illness”.
The manager said: “I feel tremendously proud and privileged to have had the opportunity to fulfil my potential working with the team. Now seems the right time to step back and enjoy my return to health by devoting my time to my own family whose love and support sustained me during that difficult time.”
In other related Liontrust news, Alex Wedge and Bobby Powar – two members of the economic advantage team – are to take charge of the firm’s £21.3m Global Smaller Companies fund, replacing David Goodman, who has been in the role since May last year.
The fund came over to Liontrust as part of the deal to purchase Neptune Investment Management and was previously managed by veteran stockpicker Robin Geffen.
Wedge joined the Economic Advantage team in March 2020 from Singer Capital Markets while Powar came over from Artemis in 2024.
Wedge said: “The global smaller companies universe offers a large opportunity set of high-quality businesses for potential investment. With such breadth, there are consistently compelling opportunities to identify attractively valued companies.”
Alex Game, who joined Liontrust from Unicorn Asset Management in May, will replace Wedge as a named fund manager on the Liontrust UK Smaller Companies and UK Micro Cap funds next week, joining Cross, Victoria Stevens, Matthew Tonge and Natalie Bell.