Fund manager in £5m divorce settlement quits

Fund manager in £5m divorce settlement quits

A City fund manager whose private life was dragged into the public domain when he was ordered to pay his former wife £5m in a divorce settlement is leaving his high profile job at New Star.

Alan Miller had been chief investment officer of the fund management group, run by the outspoken City veteran John Duffield, until he took a sabbatical last year after his acrimonious divorce proceedings. He had been expected to return to New Star but it was announced yesterday that the 43 year-old would be leaving "by mutual agreement" to "pursue other opportunities". He cashed in £15m of shares in September and his wealth has been estimated at up to £60m.

In May, after losing a House of Lords appeal he was ordered to hand over £5m to his former wife Melissa to whom he had been married for three years. They did not have any children.

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When he went on his sabbatical, New Star suggested Mr Miller wanted to spend more time with his new family.

Mr Duffield described Mr Miller as a friend. "Alan joined New Star as a friend and he leaves as a friend." Mr Miller's sabbatical followed a period of uncharacteristic low performance by the fund he managed . In September, the UK hedge fund he had been running, was recording a fall of 15% compared with a rise in the FTSE 100 at that time of more than 8%. He said: "I have worked with John [Duffield] and many of the New Star team for more than a decade. I am confident that the business will continue to prosper."

Although he did not join New Star until January 2001 he had worked with many of the employees at Jupiter Asset Management, the group which New Star was spun out of. The company was floated in November 2005. Many of the employees had shares in the group, which has been making bumper profits. Its shares were down 4.25p last night at 469.75p - well above the 225p float price.

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