Gartmore hires GAM's John Bennett

LONDON (Reuters) - UK fund manager Gartmore GRTMO.UL said on Thursday it has hired John Bennett, investment director of Julius Baer's (BAER.VX) hedge fund arm GAM, as senior portfolio manager for European equities.

Bennett will join Gartmore at the end of the year, reporting to Chief Investment Officer Dominic Rossi.

At GAM, Bennett manages the GAM Star Continental European Equity Fund. A GAM spokeswoman said the firm was not close to naming a successor for Bennett and played down the prospects of other managers following in his wake.

She also said Bennett's departure was not sparked by any change in GAM's strategy.

Last month Julius Baer split its private banking and asset management units, after suffering negative publicity and a share price hit from heavy outflows at GAM. [ID:nLK568689]

At Gartmore, Bennett will assume lead management responsibility for the Gartmore European Select Opportunities and Gartmore SICAV Continental European Funds.

The funds' current managers, Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg, will continue to manage these funds until Bennett arrives.

After that they will concentrate on three hedge funds -- Capella, Tucana, and Acamar -- two recently launched European absolute return mutual funds, the Gartmore European Investment Trust plc and several institutional mandates, Gartmore said in a statement.

"Bennett follows a blended investment process focussed on large-cap stocks similar to the process Guillaume and I use. He has a wealth of experience and a long standing track record of success which will expand and diversify our European Equity capabilities," said Guy.

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(Reporting by Cecilia Valente, Editing by Joel Dimmock and Rupert Winchester)