Schroders' Howard-Spink to step down from European Alpha Plus

Leon Howard-Spink is to hand over his £1bn European Alpha Plus fund next month to focus on running pan-European portfolios, Investment Week can reveal.

Howard-Spink (pictured) will pass over the fund to James Sym, who joined the group when it acquired Cazenove last year, on 1 June. Its process and investment objective will remain unchanged. Sym is manager of the £309m Schroder European Alpha Income fund, having taken over sole responsibility in June 2013 following Chris Rice's departure; the fund is currently top of the IMA Europe ex-UK sector over one year. Howard-Spink, who had run European Alpha Plus since 2005, will continue to run pan-European portfolios including the offshore Schroder ISF European Special Situations fund. Eu...