The Eastern European Fund Board has appointed F&C Investments to manage the Eastern European Fund following the resignation of Nevsky Capital. The F&C Eastern European team, led by Gareth Morgan, with Kristof Bulkai and Claire Franklin, will take on the role of fund manager from April 30 2014, subject to regulatory approval.

The team has a proven track record of delivering outperformance through various market cycles, in both a dedicated Russian Fund and within the wider global emerging market strategies.

Morgan, fund manager at F&C Investments, said: “Our focus on quality, rather than value alone, has enabled us to deliver strong performance over various market cycles. Through our process and an ability to draw on the wider research capabilities within F&C, including the European equity, emerging market debt and governance & sustainable investments teams, we believe we are well placed to continue delivering for stakeholders.”

Steve Ilott, co-head of investments, F&C Investments said: “We are very pleased to have received the support of the Fund Board in recognising the strengths of our capabilities. In the near term, investors remain at the behest of news headlines from the region."

"However, in the absence of a sustained conflict, Eastern Europe provides attractive valuations and exciting opportunities for growth in banking, infrastructure, energy and domestic consumption. Further progress on corporate governance and aligning the interests of minority shareholders also has the potential to help in closing the current valuation discount applied to the region by investors.”