ADIEU WILLIAM FRASER

Our colleague and friend William Fraser retired from Foord at the end of August. He is only 48 but was with the firm and in the hot seat for 17 years. He has courageously left his portfolio manager day job at the peak of his career to focus more on himself and his family. Managing director PAUL CLUER applauds him for making this very difficult decision at a very difficult time.

William joined Foord on 1 October 2005 from the country’s largest multi-manager, Investment Solutions (now Alexander Forbes Investments). He worked at its Johannesburg head office with Eldria Wagenaar, whom he later married. They decided jointly to relocate to Cape Town and both aspired to work at investment boutiques. William and Eldria agreed that for demographic reasons it was William who ought to secure employment first.

I believe that William made only one call on the job-search front — to veteran fund manager, Dave Foord. Foord Asset Management had managed portfolios for Alexander Forbes Investments since 2002 and through this account William had had exposure to Foord’s investment management style (actually, from even before this when he was with actuarial asset consultants Ginsburg Malan & Carsons, but that goes far back into the annals).

Foord was a real boutique back then — less than a tenth of its current size. But this was where William wanted to work. Thankfully for us, we felt there were synergies, especially in the fixed income, macro strategy and institutional account management space with then managing director Chris Greyling soon to retire. Eldria Fraser subsequently found a home at Cape Town-based fixed income specialist Prescient Investment Managers.

I would like to mark William’s retirement with a note of thanks for his herculean contribution to the firm. William is one of the modern-day bastions of the business and a true stalwart. He has a trove of industry insights and organisational memory that is not easily replicated. Thankfully, we will still be able to access this knowledge, given his agreement to remain a non-executive director at Foord.

Within the investment team he is somewhat of an enigma to the ‘share people,’ who came to rely heavily on his different perspective of the markets. He has also always been very good at translating the prevailing investment thesis into something that is consumable and relevant to professional and lay investors alike. Technically very smart, his contribution has not only been to the investment team — he’s equally at home on the operational and business development fronts.

William was an invaluable resource to me personally and I have relied deeply on his judgment. We will (and already do) miss his physical presence in the office. A peaceful and quiet person, William is well liked by everyone and engaged with staff of all levels and divisions. He is a true gentleman with unquestionable ethics. He retires on the best of terms and in true friendship.