Magellan analyst lands at Fairlight

Fairlight Asset Management which deals exclusively with small and mid-cap stocks has appointed Abbey Cook as a portfolio manager.

Cook joins Fairlight - an employee-owned boutique firm distributed by Perennial Partners - after almost four years at Magellan Financial Group where was a senior investment analyst and the co-founder of its global long/short product.

Although not launched publicly the fund was run internally as a discrete, standalone fund.

Her departure is the latest from the asset management business, with other senior executives - including Victoria Flygare, Vihari Ross, Sandra Bridgewater and Lucy Briggs - also leaving.

Cook has managed listed equities for more than 20 years.

Her earlier roles included senior investment analyst for Perpetual's Global Equities Fund Wavestone Capital and a co-founder of VGI Partners, a high conviction, global long/short equity manager within Regal Partners.

Abbey began her equities career in investment banking at JP Morgan.

Fairlight portfolio manager and partner Nick Cregan welcomed Cook to the team, saying the recruit is an experienced, high-calibre portfolio manager with a long track record of investment success.

"It's a real coup for Fairlight to have secured her services. We look forward to the valuable contribution she will no doubt make as our firm continues to grow," he added.

Fairlight invests in a concentrated portfolio of 30 to 40 businesses with market capitalisations between US$500 million and US$30 billion.

The boutique aims to outperform the MSCI World Small & Mid Cap Index in Australian dollars by 3 per cent annually over rolling seven-year periods.