How has Tim Russell's successor fared amid market downturn?

PERFORMANCE

Steve Cordell, who took over the Cazenove UK Absolute Target fund from Tim Russell last year, delivered more than 10% to investors overall even as markets dived.

Cordell (pictured), who took over the £139m fund officially in June last year after Russell's departure, has delivered a positive return of 5.43% to investors since the handover, compared to a 6.19% fall in the FTSE All Share. Over the whole of 2011, the fund returned 10.73% versus a loss of 3.46% for the index (net of fees). Cordell said the shorts in the portfolio - predominantly in the mining and industrial metals sectors - drove the fund's outperformance in 2011, with the highly cyclical miners tumbling sharply as the market sold off in the autumn. "Miners delivered a quarter o...