Paul Causer and Paul Read will retire as co-heads of Invesco’s Henley fixed interest team at the end of 2021, handing over their leadership responsibilities to Michael Matthews and Thomas Moore. 
Causer (pictured) and Read have worked together for 26 years. The managers, who are known as ‘the two Pauls’, started the Henley fixed interest team in 1995 with three people. It has since grown to have 28 members.
Their retirement will be the first fund manager departures in the team’s history.
Performance of Causer and Read vs peer group composite since 2000
Source: FE Analytics
Matthews and Moore will work closely with both Pauls for the rest of the year, ensuring a smooth hand over and will assume the co-head roles from 1 January 2022. There are no changes planned to the team’s investment philosophy, which is based around quality fundamental research.
Matthews has worked with Causer and Read for more than 25 years, joining their team at its foundation. He has a 15-year track record in fund management. Moore has more than 21 years’ fixed interest experience and joined Invesco five years ago from Morgan Stanley.
Causer and Read (pictured) said: “This has been a very big decision for us. We are proud of our achievements and enjoy our role and the people we work with. 
“However, we feel that in Michael and Thomas we have two excellent leaders as well as a broad and deep team of people that is ready to take on the full responsibilities to serve our clients and take the team forward for many years to come.
“We have been planning this for more than 10 years and we will continue to use the rest of 2021 to help the team complete the handover and to give clients plenty of time to be comfortable with the final step of the transition.”
Ryan Hughes, head of active portfolios at AJ Bell, said Causer and Read have done “a phenomenal job for their investors over a very long period of time” and noted the strong outperformance of their peers over their careers.
“The ‘two Pauls’ have been synonymous with the fixed interest capability at Invesco for longer than most fund research analysts have been in the market and therefore their well-earned retirement at the end of the year will certainly be a loss to the business,” he added.
“However, the announcement a year ago that they were stepping back on a number of funds to allow their colleagues to take more of a front foot was a sign that this announcement would come sooner rather than later.”
When it comes to the new co-heads of the team, Hughes described Matthews as “hugely experienced” and noted Moore’s “significant experience”. This suggests to him that there will be strong continuity in the approach taken by Invesco’s fixed interest funds.
Hughes finished: “With a solid and experienced team, there is certainly no need for existing holders of any of the Invesco fixed interest funds to panic and given the well communicated handover, I expect little impact on the funds over time.”