Ex-Invesco Star Stock Picker Plans a Comeback, With Some Changes
After stumbles and an abrupt ouster, Justin Leverenz is raising a $1 billion vehicle designed to avoid the pressures on active management that upended his career.
The low point of Justin Leverenz’s career wasn’t the punishing stretch that reversed his fortunes as one of the most prominent stock pickers in emerging markets. Or when his big bets in China and Russia went sideways. Or even the time his biggest fund’s assets plunged by almost $40 billion.
It was a phone call last June, while he was in Beijing. Invesco Ltd. was calling to fire him. “It was like losing my religion,” Leverenz says, talking about his disillusionment with the asset management industry. “It’s all a cycle. They fire you at the worst moment in time.”