Fund Times: November 8–12

JOHCM to close UK Equity Income fund; changes at Gartmore prompt speculation; SVM to consolidate UK funds; Sam Morse to take on Fidelity European Values Investment Trust

Alexander Prineas | 12-11-10 | E-mail Article

JOHCM to Close UK Equity Income Fund
JOHCM announced on 11 November that it is poised to close the JOHCM UK Equity Income Fund. JOHCM stated that “with the fund now standing at £616 million (as at 9 November 2010) and experiencing sizeable daily inflows, it is expected that the £750 million cap will be reached within the short term”. We are impressed by the fact that JOHCM sets a cap in advance and adheres to the commitment, because it protects investors in the fund by minimising the risk of underperformance due to bloated levels of assets. The fund is rated Superior by Morningstar. You can view our analysis here.

Roger Guy and Dominic Rossi to Leave Gartmore, Prompting Sale Speculation
Hedge fund manager Roger Guy announced this week that he would retire from funds management at Gartmore. This follows the departure of Guillaume Rambourg from the group, which we covered here. Mr Guy managed a significant proportion of Gartmore’s assets. In addition, Gartmore CIO Dominic Rossi will depart to Fidelity. Following the news, there was considerable speculation in the media this week that Gartmore could lose a significant amount of assets under management. This risk could prompt a sale of the group. Shares in Gartmore Group PLC slumped as much as 20% on Monday following the release of the news. Gartmore said it would combine its European large-cap and all-cap teams into a single European equities team led by John Bennett, following Mr Guy’s departure. Morningstar’s qualitative research team is in close contact with the senior management at Gartmore. We will be monitoring fund flows and will continue to be vigilant at our regular meetings with the fund managers as part of our review process. If our opinions change we will notify the market as per normal. We have covered the Gartmore changes in more detail here.

Gartmore Considers Staff Redundancies
In the wake of the news that Roger Guy and Dominic Rossi will leave Gartmore, the group is also considering staff reductions. The aim is to reduce costs by around £10 million per annum although it is unclear how many jobs will be cut.

SVM to Consolidate UK Funds
SVM will convert Colin McLean’s UK Alpha fund into a global equity fund, subject to unit-holder approval. The new fund will be called SVM World Equity fund and will be managed by Neil Veitch. SVM cites reasons behind the changes including client demand for a global equity product, and an existing product range with three UK equity funds which overlap. The small fund size may also have been a factor, with assets only just above £16m as at 30 Sep 2010. The changes are planned to take effect from 1 December.

Sam Morse to Take on Fidelity European Values Investment Trust
Sam Morse will assume the fund manager role on Fidelity European Values investment trust from the beginning of 2011. Morse already runs the Fidelity European fund, having taken on the role from Tim McCarron at the beginning of 2010, meaning he should be reasonably prepared to run the European investment trust. To see what Morningstar analysts thought of Morse taking on the European Value fund earlier this year, click here.

Alexander Prineas  is a fund analyst at Morningstar. You can contact the author via this feedback form.
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