The manager of Herschel Asset Management's Absolute Return Fund (ARF), Mark Burgess, has resigned from the company.
Herschel principal Saxon Nicholls said Burgess quit mainly because of the disappointing investor interest in the ARF.
The Melbourne-based and privately-held investment firm had $900 million in funds under management, but the ARF attracted only $20 million in the five years Burgess spent managing it, Nicholls said.
"The fund has significant overlap with the other Herschel funds and the fund didn't win any meaningful assets," he told Investor Weekly.
"I explained to him [Burgess] some time ago what needed to be done and those things did not happen.
"One option was to essentially manage a pan-Asian fund, that's where the client demand tends to be, and secondly concentrate on the retail market, but he felt the retail market would take too long to develop.
"He got a little bit disappointed at his inability to win assets. I wish him all the very best in his next endevaour."
Burgess and fellow Herschel fund manager Kristiaan Rehder are rumoured to be setting up an Australian equities absolute return shop with Bennelong Funds Management.
But Nicholls did not say whether or not Rehder had left the company.
Herschel was actively looking to add staff to its Australian equities team, he said.
He also said Herschel was set to launch its new Global Master Fund, a long/short product, later this year, and it already had around $500 million in soft commitments from investors, including United States endowments, fund of funds and Asian investors.
