Fund groups are preparing for a price war in the first quarter of next year as they overhaul their charging structures ahead of RDR.

Invesco Perpetual, BAE Systems' largest shareholder, will today publicly announce opposition to a proposed merger with aerospace group EADS, according to reports.

F&C Investments is launching a pan-European property securities long short fund, to be managed by Marcus Phayre-Mudge and Raymond Lahaut, Investment Week has learnt.

Tom Dobell, manager of the £7.7bn M&G Recovery fund, expects an uptick in M&A activity to rejuvenate performance in 2013 after a "tough" three years for the fund.

Former Treasury minister Paul Myners has joined the board of the Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities investment trust as a non-executive and independent director.

First State has reshuffled the co-manager line-up on its £815m Asia Pacific and £510m Greater China Growth funds.

Small caps and European focused investment trusts topped the performance charts in the third quarter, while Japanese portfolios lagged, new data from Oriel Securities has revealed.

Fixed income managers have expressed concerns a new bubble may be forming in higher-rated corporate bonds as investors pile into the asset class.

London's leading share index is edging back up towards the 5,800 mark in early trading, recovering from a fall to a three-week low at the end of last week as Spanish bailout fears weighed on sentiment.

The planned merger of Glencore and Xstrata has been given the green light by Xstrata's independent board members, who have backed Glencore's revised $33bn bid for the company.