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Buying spree not tax related

by Simon Keane

Jayne Sutcliffe, chief executive of Charlemagne Capital, has led a six-director buying spree of the alternative asset manager’s depressed shares.

Sutcliffe bought 610,000 shares on 10 April – a day after the first quarter update revealed assets under management had plummeted by 15% between 1 January 2008 and 31 March.

Sutcliffe – who now holds 31.5 million shares representing 11.1% of the business – was by far the biggest of the director buyers, parting with around £249,000 for her additional stake. The stock was picked up at 40.8 pence compared with their 74p close on

1 January.

Sutcliffe, who is reportedly one of the richest women in the City, was unavailable for comment following the purchase. Prior to Charlemagne, she co-founded fund manager Regent Pacific Group in 1990 where she was responsible for running European operations.

A company spokesman said the purchase was made as a ‘buying opportunity’ rather than connected with tax reasons around the year end. Finance director David Curl was among the other buyers, picking an extra 100,000 shares at approximately 40.8 pence to take his total holding to 13.7 million shares.

Executive directors Anderson Whamond, David McMahon and Jane Bates followed Sutcliffe and Curl with purchases of 73,840, 363,200 and 25,000 shares respectively, paying about 40.41p for their additional shares. Non-executive director Lord Lang of Monkton purchased 20,000 shares at around 41p, meaning the six directors mopped up a total of £484,590 of shares between them.

Despite the shrinking assets under management, analysts point to a volatile performance in Charlemagne’s funds. They also flag continued inflow of new funds – three new institutional mandates were won during the first quarter – as an indication that the current situation is a short-term performance blip.