Veteran star fund manager Mark Mobius, plans to retire from Franklin Templeton Investments after three decades at the firm.
The company announced his retirement, effective January 31.“There is no single individual who is more synonymous with emerging-markets investing than Mark Mobius,” Templeton Chairman and CEO Greg Johnson said in a statement Friday.
In March 2016, as reported, Mobius handed over the day-to-day management of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, as the company’s US-based parent, Franklin Templeton brought its emerging markets divisions under one umbrella, but kept his hand in some funds.
Mobius, now 81, passed overall control of the group to Stephen Dover, currently chief investment officer of Franklin Local Asset Management. A year later, as reported, he stopped working on the day-to-day management accepting an advisory role across the funds.
Mobius has long been considered the biggest name in emerging markets investing. After accepting a job offer from money manager John Templeton in 1987, Mobius headed one of the first emerging-market equity fund available to US customers. With a long-time base in Singapore, he traveled about 250 days a year in a Gulfstream IV private jet, visiting factories and distributors in remote corners of the globe to identify investment opportunities.