Standard & Poor's Fund Services (S&P) has put the Perpetual Australian Equities Large Cap Concentrated Fund on hold, following the announcement Perpetual head of equities John Sevior will take a six-month leave of absence.
In Sevior's absence, the fund will be managed by portfolio manager Paul Skamvougeras, who also manages the Perpetual Share Plus Long/Short Australian-equity Fund.
"John was the sole manager for the concentrated fund. We have placed the fund on hold until we have had the opportunity to meet with Mr Skamvougeras and Mr Sevior," S&P analyst James Gunn said.
"The ratings on the other funds are unaffected."
Portfolio manager Matt Williams will act as Perpetual head of equities, with support from portfolio manager Charlie Lanchester.
Earlier this week, rumours surfaced that Sevior would be leaving Perpetual, potentially to set up his own shop, but Perpetual indicated it expected him to return in 2012 to resume his position.
"Like all our employees he is entitled to long service leave," a Perpetual spokesperson said.
"It has been well prepared; everyone knew about it."
Research houses Morningstar and Lonsec said they would not take any measures until they had met with the portfolio managers.
"Lonsec will be having in-depth discussions with various Perpetual investment staff over the next couple of weeks to fully assess the implications of this development," Lonsec research general manager Grant Kennaway said.
"However, Perpetual have a large and experienced investment team, so we don't believe there is a need for any knee-jerk reactions."
