“This departure is the sixth in the space of nine months, and in S&P’s opinion reflects the manager AMP Capital Investors’ ongoing struggle to retain staff,” S&P fund analyst Justine Gorman said.
“The announcement of Simon Fitzgerald’s departure this week indicates to S&P that the manager’s efforts to stabilise the team have not been successful.
“The inability to fill opened positions within a reasonable period of time is also of concern.
“Given the manager’s broad market coverage approach, S&P considers the current team of four to be under-resourced.”
In April, there were two departures from the AMP Capital team, which resulted in S&P placing a sell rating on the AMP Capital Small Companies Fund due to concerns that the manager was not committed to the investment strategy.
In November 2009, the team lost its resources analyst, Gary Armor, with equity analysts David Flynn and Kelli Meagher separately deciding to take 12 months’ personal leave.
