FTSE 250 asset supervisor Jupiter is about to maintain practically £500m of the funds run by the departing fund supervisor Ben Whitmore.
The transfer will probably be greeted as a lift to the big asset supervisor, which has been going through a wave of withdrawals from Whitmore’s Jupiter International Worth fund, after the stockpicker’s exit was introduced in the beginning of the yr.
Jupiter instructed the Monetary Instances: “The Jupiter Merlin staff retains its full funding of £480m within the Jupiter International Worth… beneath new lead portfolio supervisor Brian McCormick.”
The fund sits in Jupiter’s Merlin vary, which operates at a level of separation from the broader group. And £480m represents just below half the quantity it was invested within the International Worth fund, and it’s not but identified the place the remaining quantity will probably be allotted.
The Merlin staff, whose place as a ‘fund of funds’ means they put money into rival funds in addition to different Jupiter funds, had been weighing up whether or not the cash ought to observe Whitmore to his new firm, Brickwood.
Their determination to not will probably be be an enormous reduction to Jupiter, which has additionally been battling with a extra basic rise withdrawal numbers, up 80 per cent these of this time final yr, which have been worsened by excessive profile departures reminiscent of Whitmore’s.
The star fund supervisor’s exit prompted Alliance Belief earlier this month on account of Whitmore’s exit.
This has all been accompanied by a basic pattern of buyers shifting away from ‘energetic’ particular person stockpickers, in favour of cheaper ‘passive’ merchandise that put money into all, or a part of, an index. In the meantime UK fairness funds particularly have been hampered by the low valuations of UK-listed firms, which has led a number of buyers to want world shares, the place returns have, in recent times, been greater.
Jupiter was approached for remark.
