Equity manager leaves Arcus

The head of equities at Arcus is leaving the firm to establish his own business.

Friday, June 14th 2002, 2:50AM

by Philip Macalister

Simon Botherway is leaving Arcus Investment Management Limited to establish a new asset management company to be called Brook Asset Management.

Arcus, which is part of the Spicers group that was acquired by AXA last year, will contract management of its Australian and New Zealand share portfolios to Brook.

"Given Simon’s track record as the number one New Zealand performer in the management of Australasian equities over the last five years, we have total faith in retaining him to manage our Australasian equities," Arcus Investment Management chief investment officer Mark Brighouse says.

Brook's contract with Arcus/Spicers lasts for "a couple of years," AXA chief executive Vaughan Underwood says.

Arcus will continue to do fund manager selection and asset allocation for Spicers.

Botherway will take at least three other people with him when he makes the move.

His new firm will be one of the biggest players in the local market with more than $400 million under management.

Brook is allowed to solicit for new business from other players, however it does have some restraints on who it can manage money for.

It is expected much of this new business development will be in the wholesale market where Arcus has a well-known brand name.

It is unknown whether Brook will manage money for AXA. Currently AXA has a joint relationship with Alliance Capital Management.

Both firms adopt different investment styles with Brook being more value based, while ACM tends to have a bias towards growth.

You can read Philip's blog here: http://www.goodreturns.co.nz/blog/

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