Manager Research
all members of our manager research team have over ten years of investment experience.
One of 36One's long standing investment analysts, Jean Pierre Verster, has resigned with immediate effect citing a lack of equity in the business as the prime reason. It appears that his desire to build his own personal brand through regular media appearances caused disagreements in the business. He joined the business in 2010.
The equity in the business is held by the two founders, Cy Jacobs and Steven Liptz. The staff are very well remunerated by way of regular bonuses linked to the profitability of the business, but the rest of the team do not own a stake in the business. This is something we flagged as a risk for the business in terms of retaining their best staff.
In our opinion, the loss of Jean Pierre is material for 36One. He has always been regarded as a "star" analyst within the business, and the investment team is not large. Replacing someone of his calibre, experience and institutional knowledge is not a straightforward exercise. However, we still maintain a Tier 2 rating on both their funds (36One MET Equity Fund and 36One MET Flexible Opportunity Fund) – i.e. This is a good fund, however we have some minor concerns which may be people, process or business related.
Jean Pierre will be joining Fairtree Capital, where he will have a material equity stake in a new division, Fairtree Protea. He will also take the step from being an analyst to managing portfolios.
Team changes at 36One
25 May 2016