Buxton drops Tesco from UK Alpha Plus

Schroders' head of UK equities Richard Buxton has completely sold out of Tesco in his £1.9bn UK Alpha Plus fund after seven years holding the stock, replacing the retailer with a mining IPO.

Buxton had come out in support of the supermarket chain following the resignation of its chief executive Sir Terry Leahy in June. Leahy has spent 14 years at the helm of the company but will step back in March next year. Tesco’s shares fell more than 2% when the news broke, but Buxton said at the time the firm’s succession plans were sensible enough that he was unphased by Leahy’s departure. However, he had actually already begun selling down the fund’s 2.5% position in Tesco before the resignation was announced. Schroders as a house still retains a position in the supermarket, howeve...