Sir Paul Ruddock is to retire as chief executive officer of Lansdowne Partners, the London-based stock-picking hedge fund he co-founded in 1998, to concentrate on his work in the arts.

Ruddock (pictured), who is currently chairman of the Victoria & Albert museum in London, will step down at the end of June.

Lansdowne Partners currently has GBP8.2bn of assets under management. Its biggest fund, the GBP5.9bn Developed Markets fund managed by former Merrill Lynch investment managers Stuart Roden and Peter Davies, returned 18 per cent last year and is currently up 7.5 per cent in 2013.