Lofoten Asset Management has appointed Steven Bowen and Heidi Kruitwagen to work on its EI Sturdza Strategic Europe Value fund.

UK-based Lofoten Asset Management has made two new hires within its €463 million ($503 million) EI Sturdza Strategic Europe Value fund team.

The new additions, of Steven Bowen as a senior analyst and back-up portfolio manager and Heidi Kruitwagen as a product specialist, come after the fund grew an impressive 86 per cent since the beginning of this year.

Bowen joins after eight years at Franklin Templeton, where he was most recently portfolio manager. He brings 20 years' experience in the finance industry.

Kruitwagen previously spent over 15 years in senior client advisor roles at UBS. In her new role, she will manage the relationship between the investment advisor and distribution teams, while liaising with the investor base.

Both will work alongside Willem Vinke, manager of the EI Sturdza Strategic Europe Value fund.

“It has been an extraordinary year for the fund as investors look for quality European equity investments and naturally this has led to two essential additions to Willem’s team,” said the managing director at EI Sturdza Investment Funds, Georges Gutmans.

“Steven Bowen and Heidi Kruitwagen are talented investment professionals and will enable us to continue to provide exceptional service and reporting for existing and new investors in the fund.”