The board of the Sloane Robinson Europe Investment Trust confirmed that portfolio manager Michael Hufton has tendered his resignation.

Hufton, who has been in the role for 18 months, will be replaced as manager of the company by chief executive of Sloane Robinson, Hugh Sloane, it was revealed.

Sloane co-founded the firm in 1993 and has been manager of its International and Japan portfolios since inception.

Hufton’s departure follows the announcement made by the board earlier in February that it intends to put forward proposals to wind up the £47.6 million SR Europe Investment Trust, or merge with another trust, at the next annual general meeting.

A statement from the company said that it would ‘offer shareholders the choice of rolling over their investment into an investment vehicle to maintain exposure and not realise capital gains, or realising their investment for cash’.

Further details of the proposals will be released in due course, the company said.

The SR Europe Investment Trust was launched in January 2001 to invest in a portfolio of quoted companies and debt instruments in the UK and Europe, including emerging Europe.

Over ten years, the company has transformed an initial £1,000 investment into £1,851 for investors. However, over a five-year period, the company returned just £803 of every £1,000 invested, making a loss for investors.