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Hideo Shiozumi
It would be impossible to talk
about fund managers who have
“come back from the dead” without
mentioning Hideo Shiozumi. His
Legg Mason IF Japan Equity fund
lost more than 60 per cent of its value
between the late 1990s and early
2000s, but then recovered to become
the best performer in its sector in the
five years to the start of 2006.
Yet this looks like something of a blip
compared with what happened next
– Shiozumi’s focus on small Japanese
growth companies worked against
him when a high-profile scandal
led to the collapse of internet firm
Livedoor in 2006 and investors turned
their back on the sector. Meanwhile,
a number of investments in property
companies also turned sour as the
financial crisis hit and the market
went south. Towards the tail end of
2008, Shiozumi found himself staring
down the barrel of peak-to-trough
losses of more than 80 per cent in less
than three years.
Yet he has since managed to turn it
around, and then some: Legg Mason
IF Japan Equity was the single best-
performing fund in the IA universe of
the 2010s, with returns of 701.17 per
cent over the decade-long period.
Rory Powe
Twenty years ago, Rory Powe was
one of the best-known managers
in the industry and his Invesco
European Growth fund was a must-
have for investors. He had a heavy
weighting to tech in the late 1990s and
his fund briefly became the largest in
the UK, worth more than £3bn.
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