Platinum portfolio manager Simon Trevett has left the international equities manager following a reshuffle of allocations that saw his responsibilities halved and handed to a younger colleague.
As first reported by Street Talk on Monday, the departure occurred ten days after a broad restructure of portfolio allocations took place across the firm which included founder Kerr Neilson dialling down his own responsibilities for the flagship Platinum International Fund from 70 per cent to 50 per cent.
Platinum said that following the reshuffle the billion dollar Platinum International Brands fund would be co-managed by Trevett and Jamie Halse in a 50/50 split. It failed to acknowledge however that Trevett had sole responsibility for the portfolio up until then.
Trevett has been with the firm for fifteen years. Platinum said it wouldn't take any questions on the matter however it did issue a statement saying that "Simon will take the opportunity to step back from the industry and consider what his future plans may be."
Platinum has taken some small steps to reassure investors saying that Halse has been with the firm for six years as an analyst covering consumer stocks. Before joining Platinum he worked at infrastructure player CP2.
Curiously not a word of this departure or the founders decision to reduce his workload was released to the ASX. Not quite a Hunter Hall-level oversight but interesting nevertheless.
