Scottish Mortgage boss Slater joins Baillie Gifford to head North American team

Tom Slater has left his position as co-manager of the £3.6bn Scottish Mortgage trust to take over the role of head of the North American team at Baillie Gifford.

He takes over from interim head Gary Robinson, who will retain a leading role within the team.

Slater (pictured) will continue to co-manage the Scottish Mortgage investment trust alongside James Anderson.

He has been deputy manager of the trust since 2009 but was made joint manager earlier this year.

Slater previously worked in the developed Asian and UK equity teams after joining Baillie Gifford in 2000. He became a partner at the firm in 2012.

Charles Plowden, joint senior partner at Baillie Gifford, said: “Tom Slater’s appointment underlines our commitment to building a world class North American Equities team, and will also ensure that this group maintains close ties with our global strategies.”

Meanwhile, John MacDougall will move from the Global Discovery team to the group’s Long Term Global Growth team.

He recently stepped down as manager of the £147.2m Shin Nippon trust, handing over management to colleague Praveen Kumar.

The £239m Japanese Smaller Companies fund returned 67.4 per cent over three years compared to the sector average of 49.2 per cent.

The £160m Shin Nippon investment trust has returned 188.5 per cent over five years against the sector average of 55.7 per cent.

“Praveen Kumar will be supported by Baillie Gifford’s Japanese Equities team, which currently comprises five investment managers and three analysts with over seven decades of collective market experience,” Sarah Whitley, head of Japanese equities at BG said.