Besides an unseasonal case of summer sniffles, Mike Balfour is in great form when we meet - until a question about the demise of his former employer, Edinburgh Fund Managers, provokes polite unease.

''If you don't mind, I'd quite like to avoid that,'' says the former EFM investment supremo, whose exit from the house in 2001 amid reports of bitter boardroom bust-ups has been gossiped about in Edinburgh financial circles ever since.

Balfour, who was recently head-hunted to become chief executive of Glasgow Investment Managers, says he wants to talk about the west coast boutique. What he still does not want to do, it seems, is shed light on his departure from EFM and events leading up to its virtual collapse into the acquisitive embrace of Aberdeen Asset Management last year.

Questioned on the subject of the troubles of EFM, Balfour insists that those who believe the company's problems stemmed from overpaying to win control of its Edinburgh rival Dunedin, for (pounds) 83m in 1996, are wrong.

''No I don't think so, I really don't think so. No, it wasn't that.''

Pressed a little further, however, the 44-year-old says problems with Dunedin or the under-performing flagship Edinburgh Investment Trust need not have been terminal, had it not been for other bigger picture failings at EFM.

''What went wrong with EFM was management and ownership. If you had had strong ownership and management, then any issue along the way, such as Dunedin or EIT would have been dealt with. They wouldn't have been issues,'' says Balfour.

The accompanying comment that by the time he left EFM he just wanted out, gives a clue to the stresses those issues must have entailed. ''I wanted to leave - I had no worries about what I would do - I was exhausted,'' says Balfour, who recalls that until the rot set in EFM had been known throughout the Scottish industry as a happy place to work in.

The name of Iain Watt, chief executive of EFM from 1991 until being ousted in 2002, a year before its sale to Aberdeen for (pounds) 36m shares, does not pass Balfour's lips once.

He is more candid on the subject of ownership, identifying EFM's public listing as one of the agents of its misfortunes, along with unnamed managers.

''I don't think being quoted is the right place for a fund management company to be. It's too visible and more difficult to invest for the future.''

With that lesson learned, it was probably inevitable that Balfour should decide to make his return to the fund management business he entered as a trainee in 1985 with a private niche operator.

However, Balfour says he was in absolutely no hurry to get back into fund management after leaving EFM, where he made his name as an Asian equities specialist, helping grow assets under management in that class from (pounds) 5m to (pounds) 1bn.

Having spent all his career after qualifying as a chartered accountant with his life dependent on stock markets, the opportunity to try other things was something Balfour hugely enjoyed.

A stint as a non-executive at McLeod Russell, a struggling English engineer, gave him an insight into the world of metal-bashing. That, along with other directorships, helped him make a comfortable and stimulating living.

Away from the world of work there was more time for his three young sons, and not talking about stock markets with his wife Anja, who manages Japanese equities at Baillie Gifford, the blue-blooded fund manager. There were also more opportunities to indulge a love of sport, which involves making regular appearances on the tennis court, skiing, and playing quite a lot of golf off an eight handicap at North Berwick.

Leading a team, including three unnamed thin friends, to victory over four portly pals on the eight chums' annual ''fats'' versus ''thins'' golfing challenge in Iberia for three years running was a source of particular pleasure that Balfour recalls with boyish delight.

Professionally, the ''biggest kick ever'' came from seeing the difference which a personal investment in Dow Carter, the Edinburgh internet marketing specialist that he chairs, has made to that firm and its employees.

Balfour retains a significant holding in the company, which has been transformed from a fledgling with a handful of staff in a garret into a contender with 45 employees.

With Anja's salary helping to fill the family's coffers, there was little reason for Balfour to be hoping for a call from a headhunter late last year. When that call came, from a specialist engaged to find a replacement for David Williams, the retiring founder of Glasgow Investment Managers, the experience was pretty underwhelming.

''Was I bowled over by it? Not particularly, because you talk about these things quite a lot and you take it in your stride,'' confesses Balfour, whose self-belief was evidenced early in his career when he talked his way into running EFM's Asian desk after just one month in fund management.

He says a big part of any lack of initial excitement about the GIM approach stemmed from the fact that it was hard to find out much about the company, which had never made much noise about running about (pounds) 700m in three investment trusts and some pension funds profitably. As well as filling in the gaps in his knowledge, however, he was very impressed at interview with the ambition and energy of Tom Craig, chairman, and director Joanna Davidson, as well as by Williams.

Although the salary on offer was not ''gargantuan'', the challenge of being able to make a big difference to the operation of the firm and having a direct stake in the result through a shareholding seemed too inviting to pass up.

In the six weeks since sacrificing his portfolio career for the rigours of a full-time job, Balfour says he has been having great fun.

While the likes of Abbey and Scottish Friendly have been winding up investment operations in Glasgow recently, he has no doubt GIM can continue to succeed in the city. Its relative lack of bulk should give it the ability to move faster than firms that find themselves withering in the middle ground as a result of being too big to be fleet of foot, but not large enough to match the power of the industry's giants.

Applauding Edinburgh-based Martin Currie's decision to restyle itself as a ''big boutique'' and invest in developing capacity to manage sophisticated products like hedge funds, Balfour holds out the prospect of more experimentation at GIM than market-watchers may have become used to.

''Yes, we might try some things that don't work - but you've got

to try.''

Fact file

Born: June 20, 1960.

Education: Dollar Academy, Clackmannanshire and Edinburgh University (BCom).

1984: Qualified as a chartered accountant.

What drives you: The thought of retiring early with the respect of others and lots of money.

What car do you drive: Peugeot people carrier and an old Porsche (not at the same time)

What did you want to be when you grew up: A farmer like my dad.

What was your best moment: Captaining the Thin golf team to victory over the Fats in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

What was your worst moment: Losing to the Fats

at Catalunia this year.

Disaster.

What music are you listening to: My kids gave me a Franz Ferdinand CD for my birthday. It would be impolite not to listen to it at least for a

while.