HEAD-TO-HEAD: Eastspring versus Jupiter

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MANAGER REVIEW

The Eastspring fund is managed by John William Olsen, who was named as lead manager of the strategy in 2014, according to Meakin.

Olsen heads the “Select team” at M&G (M&G sub-advises the Eastspring Pan European Fund), which comprises of five analysts and portfolio managers, including Mark Oliveros, who is the deputy manager of the Pan European fund.

Meakin believes that given the strategy’s focused and long-term approach, the team is appropriately resourced. He also noted that Olsen can also call on the support of the wider equity research team at M&G.

He noted, however, that there has been some personnel turnover within the Select team in recent times.

“It is not ideal, but we retain a strong conviction in Olsen and his ability to use the resources available to him effectively,” Meakin said.

Turning to the Jupiter fund, Meakin said that the strategy was taken over by co-managers Mark Nichols and Mark Heslop in 2019, following the departure of the previous manager, Alexander Darwall.

Both Nichols and Heslop joined Jupiter in 2019 from Threadneedle, where Nichols co-managed the Threadneedle European Select alongside David Dudding. Heslop, meanwhile, managed Threadneedle’s global and European smaller company strategies.

Meakin said that both managers have built out their team and even launched a smaller companies strategy, managed by Heslop. As of April, the managers were in the process of recruiting a fourth team member.

“Now that the team has been built out, it is appropriately resourced to meet the demands of the strategies they manage. We have been waiting to see how this relatively new team beds down, but the signs are positive,” Meakin said.

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