When Gavin Rochussen joined Polar Capital Holdings as chief executive in mid-2017, the UK-listed specialist asset manager had £10.3bn in assets under management and a reputation as a single-strategy technology house. The latest results, for the six months to September 2025, show AUM north of £21bn across more than a dozen distinct investment teams, with technology now contributing well under half of group revenue.
For a UK fund manager listed in the FTSE 250 small-cap end, that is a notable diversification. It has been achieved without a major acquisition, and without abandoning the multi-boutique structure that defines the firm.
The "owner-operator" pitch
Polar's positioning is that its portfolio managers participate meaningfully in the equity of their own funds and, where applicable, the parent group. Rochussen, in successive earnings calls, has framed this as the firm's primary recruiting advantage against the larger US and European houses: a fund manager joining Polar to launch a new strategy keeps a much larger share of economics than the same individual would in a tied-house structure.
That theme has been central to Rochussen's tenure. New strategies launched on the platform since 2017 include emerging-market stars, global insurance, smart beta and a more recent biotech franchise. Several have already crossed the £1bn-of-AUM threshold that Polar internally treats as the line between launch and franchise.
South Africa, JPM, and the long route to Polar
Rochussen grew up in South Africa and qualified as a chartered accountant there before moving to London with what is now Old Mutual. He ran JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management in the UK in the early 2000s, then spent more than a decade as chief executive of Saracen Fund Managers and then C Hoare & Co's investment arm before being headhunted to Polar.
Polar's chair Tom Bartlam (who has since stepped back from the role) has publicly credited Rochussen's "patient" style as critical: the chief executive has been willing to absorb several years of revenue declines in flagship technology funds while the diversification strategy bore fruit elsewhere.
Where the next leg comes from
Rochussen has been clear in recent commentary that the next phase of growth at Polar relies on continental European and US distribution. The firm has hired sales staff in Frankfurt, Zurich and Boston in successive years, and Polar's UCITS products are now registered in more than 25 jurisdictions.
"This is no longer a one-engine business," Rochussen said at the November 2024 sell-side dinner that has become a Polar tradition. "If technology has a bad year, our shareholders should not have a bad year."
By that standard, his tenure has delivered. Polar's share price has roughly doubled since he took over, and the company has continued to pay an inflation-protected dividend through three full market cycles. For a FTSE 250 financial of its size, that is a strong CV.
