Shareholders approve F&C and Thames River MM merger

Shareholders in F&C’s multi-manager funds have voted to merge with the Thames River Multi-Capital range run by Rob Burdett and Gary Potter.

The vote sees the merger of F&C's Distribution, Cautious, Balanced and Growth funds with the corresponding Thames River vehicles. It is expected to take effect from 10 December.

Thames River head of UK sales John Yule says: "Both F&C and Thames River have seen strong momentum in their multi-manager businesses in recent years and the combination, which sees Thames River Multi-Capital become the group's multi-manager platform, creates one of the largest players measured by assets under management in the UK retail multi-manager universe.

"Merging the F&C Multi-Manager range into the Thames River Multi-Capital Nurs structure preserves Rob and Gary's ability to access a wider range of funds than is currently available to the existing F&C range.

"The enlarged funds will also have greater economies of scale, which will help to reduce the TERs of each fund over the longer term. We are delighted shareholders in the F&C funds have given their strong support to the mergers, with over 99% of votes cast in favour in each case."