Bolton's replacement axed by Fidelity

Fidelity yesterday cut its losses on the fund manager charged with partly replacing the legendary Anthony Bolton. Jorma Korhonen, who took over the global part of Mr Bolton's £6bn Special Situations fund five years ago, will be replaced by Jeremy Podger, head of global equities at Threadneedle.

Mr Korhonen has already left the firm, Fidelity admitted last night, even though his replacement is not due to start until March next year.

That is a signal of how dissatisfied investors had become with his performance.

Since its launch in 2006 the fund under his management has fallen by 3 per cent. Meanwhile the average fund in the sector has climbed by 17 per cent. The fund is currently languishing 143rd out of 153 funds in the sector.

Insiders say Mr Korhonen never recovered from a disastrous period in late 2008 when he held on to banks stocks for too long. His fund will be run by Sudipto Banerji, manager of Fidelity's Global Opportunities fund, until Mr Podger is available.

At Threadneedle Mr Podger ran the £737m Global Select fund and the £8m Global Extended Alpha fund. He has been replaced as head of global equities by William Davies, currently head of European equities.