Witan (WTAN ), the £1.6bn multi-manager trust, is considering abandoning its self-managed status ahead of the retirement of chief executive Andrew Bell.

Chair Andrew Ross said Bell (below) had informed the investment trust’s board that he intended to retire in the coming year after 14 years in charge.

He added this was an appropriate time to review the future management of the global portfolio whose assets are mostly managed by a panel of six external fund managers selected by Bell and investment director James Hart.

Ross said while Witan’s shift to a multi-manager structure in 2004 had proved successful, recent underperformance meant its underlying investment returns had performed in line with its stock market benchmark and not beaten them.

Annual results published simultaneously showed Witan underperformed its composite global benchmark (15% FTSE All Share, 85% MSCI All Country World) last year by 2.7% with a 12% total net asset return against 14.7%.

The shares returned only 10.1% as their discount, or gap, to net asset value (NAV) widened to an average 9%. 

Last year was a difficult one for active funds to outperform as nearly half of Witan’s global benchmark return came from just seven ‘Magnificent’ US tech giants, although arch rival Alliance Trust (ATST ) managed to do so.

More tellingly, for the DIY investors and wealth managers who hold Witan, the trust also trails between 15% and 22% over three, five and ten years with underlying NAV returns of 20.4%, 45.6% and 134.1% at the end of February compared to the benchmark’s 35.3%, 67.8% and 154.5%

Over the full 20 years, however, the multi-manager approach has generated a total underlying investment return of 428% that Ross said broadly matched the 433% total return of the benchmark.

The actual shareholder return of 510% had been well ahead, helped by consisent growth in dividend above inflation over the period, he said.

Nevertheless, the chair invited investment groups interested in taking on the mandate to contact its broker JPMorgan Cazenove saying the environment had become more difficult for self-managed investment companies.

‘In more recent years the asset management and investment trust sectors have seen considerable changes in markets, competition, governance and regulation. These pose new investment and communication challenges for independently managed investment trusts to address successfully and cost-effectively,’ Ross said.

‘In view of these structural changes, Andrew Bell’s forthcoming retirement after over 14 years as our CEO is an appropriate opportunity for Witan to review proposals for the future management of the company’s portfolio.’

Analysts predicted there would be a lot of interest in taking on Witan, which celebrates its centenary as a listed company this year.

Deutsche Numis speculated JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (JGGI ), which has demonstrated a taste for consolidation in recent years through mergers with Scottish (SCIN) investment trust and two JPMorgan trusts, could be among those throwing their hat in the ring. 

Bell, a former head of research at wealth manager Rensburg Sheppard, took over the trust in 2011, shifting its focus to active fund managers and introducing a specialist sub-portfolio largely of investment companies.

It was this area that held Witan back last year with GMO Climate Change fund dropping 11.7% and shares in investment companies Sycona (SYNC ) and VH Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities (GSEO ) suffering badly in a sector-wide de-rating.

The core external managers that look after around three quarters of Witan’s assets did better with four outperforming their indices. Among those the strongest returns came from Artemis in the UK and Jennison investing globally. GQG’s specialist emerging markets stock picks were the best performer though, beating their index by 21%.

Ross said Bell, who also chairs Diverse Income (DIVI ) investment trust, would remain in his post throughout the review and any transition period to the appointment of a new manager. Witan shares edged up a quarter of a penny to 243.24p.