Witan investment trust has handed two £100m UK equity mandates to Lindsell Train and NewSmith Asset Management, after taking one of the mandates away from Henderson.
Starting from September 2010, Lindsell Train and NewSmith will each run concentrated portfolios with a focus on creating value, as part of the investment trust's move towards a more active management style.
Witan has created the mandates by reallocating funds from the Henderson UK Enhanced Index portfolio and the residual holdings in its Marathon UK portfolio.
"This decision reflects a further stage in the evolution of Witan's multi-manager structure and a deliberate move to increase the significance of stock selection in UK returns," the board says.
"Witan thanks Henderson Global Investors for its successful management of the UK Enhanced Index Portfolio since 2004. This has outperformed its benchmark, during a period when Witan has been evolving its multi-manager structure towards a more active strategy.
"Marathon has also outperformed since the company was appointed in 2008, as reflected in Witan's decision to allocate the manager a larger, pan-European mandate."
Witan investment trust CEO Andrew Bell, says: "We believe Witan's shareholders should benefit significantly from the stock picking ability of Lindsell Train and NewSmith.
"These two managers, together with our other active UK manager, Artemis, provide our shareholders with access to a strong array of talent working on their behalf.
"Given the inherent diversifying effects of our global portfolio and the variety of our managers, Witan is seeking more concentrated stock selection as a further enhancement of its strategy."
