Fisher Funds hunts for new head to replace founder Carmel Fisher

Tuesday 1st November 2016

Fisher Funds Management has kicked off a worldwide search to replace founder Carmel Fisher, who wants to step back from a full-time management role to spend more time with her family.

In a video posted on the fund manager's website last month, Fisher said she plans to step back from the day-to-day running of the business, provided she can find a suitable replacement. If that happens, there will be a transition period as Fisher introduces her replacement to clients next year, and she said she will remain involved in the business as a director and a "significant shareholder" with 22 percent of the business.

"There's no particular trigger or catalyst as to why now, and if I can't find a great successor it won't be happening now, it will be happening at some time in the future," Fisher said. "We've started a search process both in New Zealand and offshore, and because we're a little bit particular, look that might take some time."

Fisher Funds manages more than $6.9 billion of assets for some 260,000 clients, generating fee income of $66.8 million in the year ended March 31. Carmel Fisher set the firm up with her husband, Hugh Fisher, in 1998 and it has grown to become the country's fifth-biggest fund manager, acquiring Tower Investments in 2013 which introduced New Plymouth-based lender TSB Bank as a shareholder. The bank has since increased its stake to 49 percent.

Carmel Fisher said the business is in "great shape" and that her colleagues are running it "so well that I'm not needed as much as I used to be."

Fisher said she plans to spend more time with her family and pursue some philanthropic interests.

Carmel Fisher and chairman John Wells weren't immediately available for comment.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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