Hardenberg boosts mid caps on £1.6bn TEMIT

Reduces blue-chip holdings

Carlos Hardenberg, manager of the £1.6bn Templeton Emerging Markets investment trust (TEMIT), has reduced blue-chip exposure and rotated into mid caps, as he continues to restructure the portfolio after a three-year period of underperformance.

Hardenberg (pictured) said large-cap stocks in emerging markets, which are often state-controlled, continue to suffer from the impact of China's growth slowdown. Instead, the manager said he has "nearly doubled" the number of positions in the trust to around 83 since taking over last October, by adding additional mid-cap names, with a particular bias towards the information technology sector, where he now allocates 26% of the portfolio. It was first announced that Hardenberg would replace Mark Mobius as lead manager on TEMIT after 26 years in July last year, with Mobius remaining a po...