Chief Investment Officer Andrew Lapping will be leaving Allan Gray towards the end of this year, as his 20th year at the firm comes to a close. Andrew has decided to take a well-deserved break with the intention of exploring opportunities outside of investment management.
Duncan Artus will take over the reins as chief investment officer from Andrew, effective 1 September 2020. Duncan is well known to those familiar with Allan Gray – enjoying the respect and trust of his colleagues and our clients. Duncan joined the firm in March 2001 and has been managing a portion of client equity and balanced portfolios since January 2005. With 20 years’ experience – 15 of those as portfolio manager at Allan Gray – Duncan is a well-versed and worthy successor.
Mark Dunley-Owen, who manages a portion of our clients’ stable and fixed interest portfolios, will hand over some of his responsibilities as he joins our sister company, Orbis. Leonard Krüger, who manages a portion of the stable portfolios, will be leaving Allan Gray and pursuing other opportunities.
Developing strong succession within our investment team has been a hallmark of our firm since its founding in 1973. In addition to Duncan’s promotion, three new portfolio managers have been appointed to our equity, balanced and stable portfolios: Rory Kutisker-Jacobson, Tim Acker and Sean Munsie. An additional three have been appointed to focus on Africa ex-South Africa and frontier market equities: Varshan Maharaj, Rami Hajjar and Kamal Govan. All are long-serving members of the investment team.
On the fixed interest side, Londa Nxumalo and Thalia Petousis will assume full responsibility for the Allan Gray Bond Fund and the Allan Gray Money Market Fund, respectively, which they currently co-manage with Mark.
We have every confidence that under Duncan’s leadership, the team will continue to excel. We remain committed to delivering strong investment performance and building our clients’ trust and confidence in us.