UK value fund manager to leave Jupiter to set up own firm

Leading UK value investor Ben Whitmore is leaving Jupiter Fund Management to set up his own investment manager.  

Whitmore is best known for managing the £2.15 billion UK Special Situations Fund and £1.57 billion Jupiter Income Trust. He also manages segregated mandates and is co-manager of the £950 million Jupiter Global Value Equity fund. Overall, he manages £10 billion for Jupiter. Following the news of his departure, Jupiter’s share price has this morning slumped over 14%. 

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Whitmore will remain at the firm until at least July 2024 where he will continue to manage his funds and oversee the transition to their new managers.  

Replacing Whitmore on the Jupiter UK Special Situations fund will be Alex Savvides, who Jupiter have just announced as a new hire from JO Hambro Capital Management, where he currently manages the £1.3 billion JO Hambro UK Dynamic strategy and a further £1 billion in segregated mandates. Savvides is expected to join in autumn this year.  

Savvides has managed the UK Dynamic fund since June 2008. Over this period it has returned 278% compared with the FTSE All-Share return of 149% and UK All Companies fund manager average return of 133%, according to total return data from FE Analytics.  

Last November, Jupiter announced the hires of Adrian Gosden and Chris Morrison, joining in January 2024 to manage the Jupiter Income Trust. Both fund managers worked together at GAM, where they managed the £400 million GAM UK Equity Income fund, which they are bringing with them to Jupiter as part of the move.  

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The GAM UK Equity Income Fund has recorded top-quartile performance over the last three years, returning 33% versus the FTSE All-Share return of 24.5%. 

Jupiter said it was in discussions with Whitmore about whether he might continue to manage the Jupiter Global Value fund on behalf of Jupiter.  

According to FE Analytics, Whitmore has delivered a total return of 6.7% a year for 22 years. He joined Jupiter in 2006 from Schroders.  

Under his leadership, Jupiter UK Special Situations has returned 252% compared with 147% for the FTSE All-Share index and 128% for the typical UK All Companies manager.  

Jupiter UK Special Situations is one of interactive investor’s Super 60 investment ideas, which are selected and managed by our independent research partner Morningstar and reviewed by our in-house investment experts. As with other fund management exits, our fund analysts will work with Morningstar to decide on which course of action to take.