Japan equity veteran Hideo Shiozumi is to step back from active management ahead of a planned retirement at the end of Q3 2022, Citywire Selector can reveal.

The long-serving fund manager began his career in 1970 and has established his own investment house, Shiozumi Asset Management.

It was through this venture he had formed a long working relationship with Legg Mason and, more recently, Martin Currie, where he had run the FTF Martin Currie Japan Equity fund since 2020.

In response to his planned retirement, Martin Currie – which is now owned by Franklin Templeton – intends to build its own, in-house Japan equity capabilities. Albeit with Shiozumi retaining an advisory role for a 12-month period.

Spearheading this offering will be Reiko Mito (pictured), who joins from Swiss group GAM. Mito had been a named manager on both the GAM Multistock Japan Equity and GAM Star Japan Leaders funds during her 11 years with the asset manager.

Mito, who will formally join on 25 August 2022, assumes the newly created role as head of Japan equity strategy and research within Martin Currie. In this capacity, she will work closely with Paul Danes, who is based in Singapore on the FTF Martin Currie Japan Equity fund.

Danes is named across a host of Asia Pacific equity funds within the Legg Mason/Franklin Templeton funds diaspora. He has over 18 years of experience in Japanese research and is also fluent in Japanese.

Mito will report to Michael Browne, who is global head of investment strategy and oversight at Martin Currie. Commenting on the new development, Browne said: ‘Her appointment demonstrates our commitment to investing in new talent to support our long-standing ambition in this space, and I look forward to working with the new Japan equity team.’

Shiozumi has not been rated since February 2022, however, prior to that, he went 30 consecutive months with a rating in recognition of his strong, risk-adjusted performance in Japanese equities.

In terms of recent performance, the FTF Martin Currie Japan Equity fund sits 187 out of 188 funds on a 12-month absolute return basis to the end of June 2022. This is with a loss of 33.2% over this timeframe, which compares to a sector average loss of 5.5%. On a three-year basis, the fund is 164 out of 165, having returned 3.8%, while the average peer returned 25.2%.