Fidelity Investments International plans to split its £6.5 billion ($11.9 billion) Special Situations Fund into separate U.K. and global units and named Jorma Korhonen to manage the fund alongside fund manager Anthony Bolton, who will gradually phase out his management duties, according to a company announcement.
Pending regulatory compliance and a 75% shareholders' approval in July, Fidelity will split the fund in September. The Special Situations Fund will focus only on U.K. equities, and the Fidelity Global Special Situations Fund will target global stocks. Mr. Bolton, who has been managing the Special Situations fund - Britain's largest mutual fund - since 1979, will run both funds in 2006 and continue managing the U.K. fund in 2007. Mr. Korhonen will assume management of the global fund in January.
At the end of 2007, Mr. Bolton will "move away from day-to-day fund management into a new role at Fidelity, including mentoring and developing our growing fund management team," according to the announcement. A successor for the U.K. fund has yet to be named. Mr. Korhonen now manages two Fidelity global equity funds for investors in Japan and Australia. Spokeswoman Anne Read could not be reached by press time to clarify who will take over Mr. Korhonen's responsibilities with those funds.
