Newton, as part of BNY Mellon, has announced a number of changes to the team managing this fund, which came into force on 21 May 2025.
Nick Pope has joined the team to manage this fund, and replaces Matthew Brown and Philip Shucksmith. He’ll also head up the selection of company shares for the BNY Mellon Real Return fund managed by the same team. At the same time, Ella Hoxha has been appointed as Co-Lead Portfolio Manager for the Real Return team alongside existing Portfolio Manager Aron Pataki. Hoxha replaces previous Co-Lead Portfolio Manager Andy Warwick. A number of other analysts have also joined the team to help manage the funds.
These changes are in addition to the departures of Euan Munro and Mitesh Sheth, as CEO and Co-CIO (Chief Investment Officer) of Newton respectively, at the end of March 2025.
Our view
We have met Pataki, Hoxha and Pope to better understand the reasons for, and implications of, these changes.
We feel the new managers have some relevant experience. Hoxha joined Newton in 2023 and has 20 years’ experience in managing fixed income (bond) and total return funds. She has previous experience at other investment firms including Pictet Asset Management, Wellington Management and Invesco Asset Management. That said, she doesn’t have a public track record of managing a fund similar to the BNY Mellon Real Return fund that we can sufficiently analyse.
Pope joined Newton in 2011 as a global research analyst. He became co-manager of the Asian Income fund in 2021 and took over some sustainable funds in 2022. We would prefer to see him build a longer track record in managing equity funds before taking a view of his capabilities.
While the fund’s investment philosophy remains the same, and it will continue to invest in both shares and bonds, there will be some refinements to the investment process. For example, the managers intend on using fewer complex strategies in the fund in order to simplify what they do, which we view positively.
However, overall, there’s a significant amount of change taking place within the team. In addition, while these managers have had some overlap at Newton in the past, they haven’t worked directly together to manage a fund. It can take time to get used to new working relationships.
We typically view changes of fund manager with caution because we expect there to naturally be some evolution of how a fund is run once the new manager(s) are in place.
We also expect there to be some disruption to any team during such periods of change. We note that the remaining team members don’t appear to have had much time to prepare for this restructure prior to implementation.
As a result, we’ve taken the decision to remove the fund from the Wealth Shortlist.
Although we're removing the BNY Mellon Sustainable Real Return fund from the Wealth Shortlist, this isn't a recommendation to make any changes to an investment portfolio. Investors should make sure any investments match their investment goals and attitude to risk and are held as part of a diversified portfolio. If you're not sure if an investment is suitable for your circumstances, please seek personal advice.
Annual percentage growth
Apr 20 – Apr 21 | Apr 21 – Apr 22 | Apr 22 – Apr 23 | Apr 23 – Apr 24 | Apr 24 – Apr 25 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BNY Mellon Sustainable Real Return | 18.29% | -3.10% | -5.95% | 3.43% | 2.40% |
SONIA + 4% | 4.05% | 4.20% | 6.58% | 9.19% | 8.95% |
IA Targeted Absolute Return | 9.68% | 1.33% | 0.52% | 6.41% | 4.77% |