Ex-Liontrust boss Legge returns with Vinculum Fund Management

Nigel Legge, former chief executive of Liontrust, is planning to return to the asset management industry with the launch of Vinculum Fund Management.

Legge, who co-founded Liontrust in 1994, is a partner and co-founder of the venture. He says Vinculum aimed to bring a new investment process to the marketplace designed to strip out human error from stock selection.

"I would not have contemplated coming back into the investment industry if we did not have this new investment process.

"The key to the process is objectivity, not subjectivity. Most fund managers have a way of trying to select shares they like, which is flawed by the information they receive about those shares and how they interpret that information.

"Our process excludes factors that could cause human error, and focuses solely on companies which have economic quality."

Vinculum - from the Latin 'vincire' which means 'to bind' - plans to offer its investment approach via a long-only Oeic initially, with additional funds offering regional variations of the process also planned.

Legge says the group would be aiming to offer its solution to wealth managers who have been let down by underperforming funds.

"The sector charges for poor performance at the moment, and someone needs to break step with that," he says.

Legge exited the industry last year after spending 15 years at Liontrust, during which time he oversaw the group's expansion and listing on the LSE.

His departure followed the exit of star managers Jeremy Lang and William Pattisson in 2009.

Former Tactica Fund Management chief executive John Ions took over at Liontrust following Legge's departure, having joined the company earlier in 2010 as head of retail.

Legge's new company will only launch once regulatory authorisation and all legal agreements are in place.