Fidelity Growth & Income shareholders approve merger

Shareholders in Fidelity's Growth & Income fund have voted in favour of its merger into the MoneyBuilder Growth fund.

Fidelity said the merger will take place mid July, after 98% of investors approved it.

James Griffin, in charge of the £154m Growth & Income portfolio as well as the £493m MoneyBuilder fund, runs a similar mandate across both offerings, prompting the group to take action to merge the funds.

Both have achieved identical performance over one year, returning 18.1%, although Growth & Income has outperformed over three years, delivering 11.2% compared to 4.6% from MoneyBuilder.

Both lag the IMA UK All Companies sector return of 21.9% over one year, while Growth & Income has outperformed the sector over three years.

A spokesperson said: "Shareholders overwhelmingly approved the merger of the two funds at the EGM last week. They will benefit from continuity of management since both funds are managed by James Griffin, Fidelity's longest standing UK equities fund manager."