Fund manager Matthew Tillett (pictured) has stepped down from Brunner (BUT ) investment trust, the second time in two years the global fund has had a change in lead manager under Allianz Global Investors.

Christian Schneider, AllianzGI’s deputy chief investment officer for global growth, will become the interim lead manager for at least six months, supported by Marcus Morris-Eyton and Simon Gergel, manager of Merchants (MRCH ) trust and CIO of UK equities.

Schneider and Morris-Eyton had worked with Tillett since 2020 when he was promoted to run Brunner after the departure of Lucy Macdonald following a merger of AllianzGI’s global and European investment teams.  

It is not clear if Tillett is staying at AllianzGI, where he also manages the Allianz UK Listed Opportunities open-ended fund, for which he has earned a top Citywire AAA performance rating.

Tillett, a graduate in economics and economic history from the University of Bristol, joined AllianzGI in 2006.

His move off Brunner is a surprise coming just three months after he took part in a Citywire virtual event to promote the £438m listed fund on which he had worked since 2010.

On a rising day for the UK stock market, Brunner shares slipped 1% to £10.15. Before today they had fallen 6.6%, broadly in line with the decline in the MSCI World index but well ahead of the 26% average decline in a sector that has seen a marked selloff in growth trusts, most notably Scottish Mortgage (SMT ).

At yesterday’s close Brunner shares stood nearly 10% below net asset value, in line with their one-year average discount. According to its fact sheet, over three years to 31 May the shares generated a total return, including quarterly dividends, of 39.1%. This was less than the 42.2% investment growth in the portfolio but ahead of its benchmark (a composite of 70% FTSE World ex-UK and 30% FTSE All-Share), which grew 37.2%.

Brunner chair Carolan Dobson thanked Tillett for his ‘steadfast and valuable contribution over his many years of working with the company’.

She said Brunner continued to withstand the turbulent market conditions due to its focus on quality growth companies bought at a reasonable price. ‘Performance is good in these conditions and Brunner’s total return NAV outperformed the total return benchmark by 0.8% in the first half of the current financial year.’

Dobson said the 2.1%-yielder was on track to deliver its 51st year of rising dividends, with ‘strong’ revenue reserves supporting a 6.7% uplift in this year’s payouts.