Edouard Carmignac, the founder of the eponymous fund management firm, is stepping back after three decades at the helm of one of the company’s oldest funds following lacklustre performance.
Paris-based Carmignac said on Tuesday that Mr Carmignac was stepping back from overseeing Carmignac Investissement, a €3.96bn fund investing in international equities that he has run since its inception in 1989. David Older, Carmignac’s head of equities, will take over the management of the fund.
Mr Older has also been named co-manager of the group’s largest fund, Carmignac Patrimoine, which invests in bonds, equities and currencies, and has €18.7bn under management. Mr Older will run it alongside Mr Carmignac and Rose Ouahba, head of fixed income. Mr Carmignac will remain as the group’s chief investment officer, focusing on overall asset allocation.
The changes follow a long period of underperformance at Carmignac.
Carmignac Investissement has underperformed its benchmark over one month, three months, one year, three years, five years and 10 years, and is in the bottom quartile of peer performance in each of these time periods, according to Carmignac’s website.
Meanwhile Carmignac Patrimoine has also underperformed its benchmark over one month, three months, one year, three years, five years and 10 years. The fund made its name during the financial crisis of 2008 when its performance was flat while its benchmark index lost 12 percentage points. Since then it has disappointed.
Mr Carmignac, 71, is one of the most high-profile names in the European fund management industry. He has cultivated a rock-and-roll image by entertaining clients, employees and friends in annual private concerts where the likes of the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton have performed, and is a keen polo player. Mr Carmignac has amassed a vast collection of contemporary art and this summer opened a new foundation to display it on the island of Porquerolles off the coast of the South of France.
Mr Carmignac said in a statement on Tuesday:
I have at my disposal this wealth of talents to delve into, so as to focus my attention on forging deep-seated convictions on markets, essential to long term performance. This is in particular made possible because I have total confidence in fully extending to David Older the already large delegation in the management of our global equity portfolios that I had progressively granted him over the past few years.