Mark Barnett makes a return to fund management

Mark Barnett is set to join fund house Tellworth Investments.

Mark Barnett is set to join boutique fund house Tellworth Investments, a year after his departure from Invesco.

Barnett formerly managed Invesco’s Income and High Income funds. During his time running the funds, both underperformed the UK All Companies sector. Barnett left Invesco in May 2020.  

Barnett was often seen as the protégé of former star fund manager Neil Woodford. Following Woodford’s departure to set up his own Woodford Investment Management fund house, Barnett was placed in charge of the funds previously managed by Woodford.

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Barnett was also removed from managing Edinburgh investment trust (LSE:EDIN) in December 2019, with Majedie Asset Management’s James de Uphaugh put in charge of the portfolio.

Tellworth Investments is a small fund house founded by former Schroders fund managers Paul Marriage and John Warren. The fund group currently overseas several investment funds, including TM Tellworth UK Select.

In 2020, Tellworth announced plans to launch a British Recovery & Growth investment trust and invest principally in “UK-listed companies with a significant presence in the UK”. However, Marriage and Warren pulled the launch of the trust after it failed to attract sufficient interest from investors, with the expected amount raised less than £100 million.

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Barnett will join Tellworth’s investment team later this month. According to Portfolio Adviser, it is expected that Barnett will help the fund house to launch a new income and growth fund.

Commenting on the news, Teodor Dilov a fund analyst for interactive investor, said: “This might be the perfect point in the market cycle for Mark Barnett to resume his fund management career. He has a wealth of experience and certainly could add a lot of value on the UK equities front. During his time at Invesco, Barnett was struggling relative to the IA peer group due to his value approach being out of favour, along with facing consistent redemptions. However, there could have been a high possibility of us discussing his pick up in performance should he have stayed with his previous employer.

“The transition from heading a team at a leading asset manager to working for a boutique has its own challenges, but maybe having more freedom and flexibility (if that’s the case at Tellworth) could be the key for future success – time will tell.”