Jupiter CEO Andrew Formica is to retire as CEO in October and return to his native Australia after three years with the fund manager.

He will be replaced by Matthew Beesley, the group's chief investment officer, who joined the company in January.

Jupiter says that Mr Beesley will become CEO from 1 October, when Mr Formica stands down, subject to regulatory approval. Mr Beesley will take on the role of deputy CEO immediately and will retain his global chief investment officer responsibilities during the transition.

Jupiter, one of the UK's largest independent fund managers, has suffered outflows and profit set-backs in some recent years and been hit by outflows. Profits were boosted recently by the takeover of rival fund manager Merian.

Jupiter said that Mr Formica had made it clear that his longer-term plans were to relocate back to his native Australia with his family.

The company said: “With the initial phase of Jupiter's business transformation completed he feels now is the right time to hand over the leadership of the business, to enable the next phase to have consistent and strong leadership throughout that period.”

Jupiter says that while he will relocate back to Australia in October he will remain in the business until 30 June 2023 to ensure a “smooth leadership transition” and to assist with a number of strategic objectives, including supporting the Asian business and development of the Australian market offering. 

While still employed by the group, he will remain on the board of NZS Capital as the company's representative.

Mr Beesley joined Jupiter in January, as chief investment officer. Before joining Jupiter, he was the chief investment officer at Artemis Investment Management and was previously head of investments and head of equities at GAM Investments and head of global equities at Henderson Global Investors.  

Nichola Pease, chairman of Jupiter, said: "On behalf of the board I would like to thank Andrew for his significant contribution over the last three years.  Andrew has been an excellent leader throughout a highly challenging period for the business, the industry and indeed the world; his expertise and vision have strengthened our underlying business and driven progress towards our long-term strategic objectives. Andrew leaves with the board's very best wishes and we are pleased that he will remain with the business to ensure a comprehensive transition of CEO and progress a number of important strategic initiatives."

"Since joining Jupiter, Matthew has clearly demonstrated his strong leadership skills and strategic insights. The board is pleased to have such a strong internal successor to Andrew and is confident his energy, experience and expertise will help drive forward the Group's strategy, for the benefit of all of our stakeholders."

Mr Formica said: "Jupiter is a client-led business and I am proud to have worked with such a fantastic and dedicated team as we navigated an extremely challenging period for the business and markets. Despite those challenges, we continued to deliver for our clients with strong investment performance and our focus on high conviction active management. Whilst it is always hard to find the right time to hand over, we have made significant progress against our strategic priorities ensuring that Jupiter is now a more diversified and resilient business, has enhanced positions in critical areas such as sustainability and data science and has the right building blocks in place to support long term growth. I am pleased to see the board appoint Matthew Beesley as my successor, and I look forward to working with him to ensure a seamless transition."

Mr Beesley said: "I am very excited to have the opportunity to lead Jupiter into its next phase of development. Since joining Jupiter earlier this year, I have been enormously impressed by the talent we have across the firm, and the focus of the business on delivering excellent outcomes for our clients.  

"We have made the right strategic changes to put Jupiter on the best trajectory to long term growth and I look forward to playing my part in delivering on our significant potential."