Veteran UK equity manager Richard Buxton is set to leave Jupiter (JUP) at the end of August and retire from fund management.

Jupiter’s £614m UK Alpha fund, which Buxton has managed since 2009, will be handed over to Ed Meier and Errol Francis.

Buxton’s departure from the firm ends a nearly four-decade career in which he became one of the UK’s best known investors.

He started out at Brown Shipley in 1985 as an investment trainee, before joining Baring Asset Management, where he became head of UK equities.

In 2001 he moved to Schroders, where he managed the firm’s UK equities team and ran the UK Alpha Plus fund and Schroder UK Growth investment trust.

His departure from Schroders in 2013 to take the helm at Old Mutual Global Investors saw performance of the UK Growth trust suffer as it was first passed to Julie Dean and then, after her departure to Cazenove, to Philip Matthews. Schroders was sacked by the board in 2018 and Baillie Gifford appointed to run what is now Baillie Gifford UK Growth (BGUK ).

OMGI was renamed Merian Global Investors after a private equity-backed management buyout in 2017. Merian was then sold to Jupiter in 2020 for £370m.

Buxton said: ‘It has been a pleasure and a huge privilege to have been entrusted with so many people’s long-term savings over so many years. While I am looking forward to pursuing other interests, not least my passion for the arts, I have always said that investing is in my blood.’

The UK Alpha fund has been a solid performer in recent years – a diamond in the rough as Jupiter’s other funds struggled.

Over three years the strategy has returned 47.9%, beating the sector average return of 32.3%.

Despite its strong performance, investors have been pulling assets from the fund. According to Morningstar data, it saw net outflows of £1.5bn over five years.

Jupiter chief executive Matthew Beesley said: ‘Richard is one of the most respected investors of his generation and it has been a pleasure working with him since I joined Jupiter.

‘We are rightly recognised as having a leading UK equity franchise and Richard is leaving the UK Alpha team in robust shape and in very good hands.’