Veteran U.S. Fund Executive Working to Give U.K. Firm Firmer Footing in

A former Delaware Management Holdings Inc. distribution executive is working to raise a London-based mutual fund company's profile in the United States.

Keith E. Mitchell, the new managing director of John Govett & Co.'s San Francisco-based U.S. operations, will try to boost the company's client base, while giving greater recognition to a family of six global funds. The company has $6 billion in assets under management.

Govett, founded in 1920, manages money for pensions, charities, unit trusts, and private client trusts. But it has struggled in the U.S. market.

Since Mr. Mitchell took over last month, Govett has shelved its U.S. distributors, Van Wagoner Funds and Morgan Stanley-owned Van Kampen. Instead, it will use Fidelity Investments Group, Charles Schwab & Co, and other brokerages.

"We have to rebuild John Govett; it does not make sense to have Morgan Stanley and John Govett both working on distribution," said Mr. Mitchell, 43, who was president of Delaware Distributors LP.

Govett, which is 75% owned by Dublin-based Allied Irish Banks Inc., has a family of six global funds-emerging markets, international equity, Latin America, Pacific strategy, small cap, and global income.

"Our niche is developing markets and regions. It's a more fragmented market and even the major competition-Templeton (Worldwide)-has a small share," he said.

With the Dow Jones industrial average down about 10% this year, "My crystal ball tells me there's going to be more dollars going internationally. It's an area that will have faster growth; it's less entrenched," he said.

He adds that the distribution "challenge is significant . . . If we had a domestic product line, I wouldn't even try" for greater U.S. presence.

Mr. Mitchell, who will move to the Bay Area full-time in July, is ready. He was one of several key managers to turn Delaware Management Holdings around after it was bought in 1988 by a New York leveraged buyout firm, Castle Harlan LP. Restored to health, the Philadelphia firm was acquired in 1995 by Lincoln National Corp., Fort Wayne, Ind.

He left his job as president of Delaware Distributors L.P. in November to pursue more entrepreneurial opportunities, he said at the time.

"My job was not done, but in my heart I felt it was done," Mr. Mitchell said this week.

Mr. Mitchell is one of several Delaware Management executives to leave in recent months. Another, Edward N. Antoian, left to start Chartwell partners after managing Delaware's DelCap fund, with $1.1 billion of assets under management.

Mr. Mitchell is quick to say he left on good terms.

"Money managers are naturally entrepreneurial," he said. "What you have is people who are proving themselves continually, and their track records are portable. Part of this (movement) is natural."

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