Shah (pictured), who is stepping down from fund management after 17 years in the industry, will be replaced on Special Sits by small-cap manager Alex Wright.

Wright will remain manager of the Fidelity Special Values trust he took over from Shah last year, as well as co-manager of the group’s top performing UK Smaller Companies fund.

It is understood Shah will take up a new role within Fidelity’s PM academy, focused on developing new investment talent.

The £2.8bn Special Situations fund has returned 36.9% over one year and 50% over three years to 23 August, according to Morningstar, ahead of the respective IMA UK Companies sector averages of 23.7% and 46.7%.

Wright will be the third manager to run the flagship portfolio, which was headed by Anthony Bolton for almost 30 years.   

Mark Dampier, head of investment research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Sanjeev Shah remains at the helm of the fund for the time being, and the transition to Alex Wright looks to be well organised. Alex follows the same contrarian/value approach the fund is known for, which ensures a good degree of consistency.

“We will meet with Alex Wright again to discuss and evaluate his ability to perform the new role. In the meantime, we believe investors willing to take a long-term view, and ride out periods of stock market volatility, should stick with the Fidelity Special Situations fund, and it remains on the Wealth 150 list.”

Liu, meanwhile, will be replaced by Teera Chanpongsang on the £2.1bn Fidelity South East Asia fund. He will continue to manage the offshore Fidelity Funds South East Asia sister portfolio.

The onshore South East Asia fund has returned 3.6% over one year and 10.5% over three years, lagging the IMA Asia Pacific ex-Japan averages of 6.7% and 15.3%.

Chanpongsang runs the Fidelity Emerging Asia fund, launched in 2011. The fund has returned 7.2% over the year to 23 August compared with an IMA Asia Pacific ex-Japan average return of 9.7%.

Both changes will come into effect at the end of 2013.