Plackett to take six-month sabbatical from BlackRock

Richard Plackett is to take a six-month sabbatical from BlackRock, handing his portfolios to other members of the team.

Plackett (pictured) is head of the UK small- and mid-cap team in BlackRock's alpha strategies group, co-managing the £2bn UK Special Situations fund with Roland Arnold, who will now take over the portfolio.  He also manages the BlackRock UK Emerging Companies hedge fund, which will be handed to co-manager Ralph Cox. Plackett runs the contracts for difference (CFD) portfolio of the BlackRock Throgmorton trust, and will now hand this to Cox, while Mike Prentis remains co-manager. He takes his leave from 1 April 2014. UK Special Situations has returned 29.8% over the three years to...