Liddle appointed as new chairman of Allan Gray

Ian Liddle, chairman, Allan Gray

This follows the untimely death of Simon Marais, who passed away on 26 February.

"Changes triggered by a tragedy are never welcome but with Simon's passing we have the sad but important task of filling his role on the Allan Gray board," said Rob Dower, chief operating officer of Allan Gray. "Ian is a well-prepared and worthy successor and we have high expectations of his and of Andrew's impact in their new roles. As our investors expect, the Allan Gray group remains very focused on helping clients to make the most of their investments."

Liddle (41) joined Allan Gray in 2001 as an equity analyst after several years as a management consultant and has held the role of chief investment officer (CIO) since early 2008. He holds a Bachelor of Business Science from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder and director of Allan Gray. He has been managing a portion of Allan Gray clients' equity and balanced portfolios since January 2005 when he was appointed as a portfolio manager.

Lapping (37), who holds Bachelor of Science (Engineering) and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from UCT, and is a CFA charter holder, started out at Allan Gray in 2001 as a fixed interest trader before moving to the research team as an equity analyst in February 2003. He was appointed fixed interest portfolio manager in June 2006 and in February 2008 took on the additional responsibility of managing a portion of Allan Gray clients' equity and balanced portfolios. He is a fund manager of the Allan Gray Equity, Balanced, Bond and Money Market Funds and oversees the African equity portfolios. Lapping is expected to succeed Liddle as CIO in March 2016.