The global asset manager preparing to pass the baton as long-time Tokyo fund manager is retiring after 38 years with the firm.

Schroders has announced that Japanese equity fund manager Masaki Taketsume will formally take over managing the Schroder Tokyo Fund and the Schroder Japan Growth Fund Investment Trust from 1 July 2019.

Taketsume has been at Schroders for more than a decade, and the move is part of deliberate succession planning to replace the veteran fund manager Andrew Rose who has decided to retire from the industry at the end of June.

Rose started his career at Schroders in 1981, during which time he held a number of roles, including senior investment officer for Japan and head of Japanese equities. 

In a statement this week, the group said that Rose and Taketsume have collaborated on portfolio management since 2014 and Taketsume’s move to London in 2017 was a key step in formalising the transition. 

Taketsume has been a member of Schroders’ Japanese equity team since 2007, initially as a technology analyst, then as a fund manager working alongside Rose for the past year. He began his investment career with fund management roles at Nikko Asset Management in 1994, and joined Deutsche Trust Bank in 1998.

“Andrew is one of the most respected and long-standing Japanese equity fund managers in the industry, we would like to thank him for his commitment to Schroders and our clients during his successful 38-year career,” Nicky Richards, global head of equities at Schroders, said in a statement.

“Masaki is ideally placed to take on Andrew’s fund management responsibilities. We are confident that Masaki’s fund management expertise, supported by investment director Nathan Gibbs and the wider Japanese equities team, will ensure investment continuity for our clients.”

Taketsume will be supported by Gibbs, another funds veteran with 35 years’ experience in Japanese equities. Gibbs relocated to London from Tokyo in 2016 and will contribute to portfolio strategy, and debate and work closely with Schroders’ investment team in London and analysts in the group’s Tokyo office. 

The global investment manager is responsible for around £449.4 billion ($593.3 billion) of client assets across six continents.