Premier Miton makes key hires as assets bounce back to £10.3bn
Hires fixed income team from Merian GI
Premier Miton Group has hired Merian Global Investors’ Lloyd Harris as head of fixed income and plans to launch two new products before year-end as its assets under management (AuM) recovered to £10.3bn.
Harris will be lead manager of the Premier Corporate Bond Monthly Income fund.
He is set to join the business in August from Merian Global Investors where he has worked since January 2012. Harris will be joined by other members of the Merian fixed income investment team, including co-manager, Simon Prior. The team managed about £1bn across three funds.
Premier said it intends to launch two new fixed income products before the end of the calendar year, subject to regulatory approval.
Elsewhere, Alan Rowsell has been appointed as manager of a planned new global smaller companies fund.
Rowsell is set to join Premier in October 2020 from Aberdeen Standard Investments, where he has been manager of the £1.2bn ASI Global Smaller Companies fund since 2012.
The fund manager's third-quarter figures showed a closing AuM of £10.3bn on 30 June 2020 compared to £9.1bn in March 2020.
Chief executive Mike O'Shea said: "I am delighted to welcome Lloyd Harris, Simon Prior, Alan Rowsell and their investment analysts to our active investment management team. These hires strengthen our investment capabilities and broaden the product range we can offer our clients.
"We will continue to grow our business through the addition of new investment talent and by developing our product range where significant client demand is identified."
He added: "The single strategy funds continued to see inflows across several products. Leading this was the European equity investment team with inflows in the period bringing their AuM to £1.48bn as at 30 June 2020.
"I am pleased to report that the LF Miton European Opportunities fund is the best performing European ex UK equity fund since its launch and the fund very recently won Best European fund at the Investment Week Fund Manager of the Year Awards 2020 along with Best Europe fund in the Money Observer Fund Awards 2020.
"There was a slowdown in outflows across the multi-asset and fixed income products compared to the previous two quarters. Looking forward we continue to see growth opportunities across our range of both new and established funds."
Other managers also released updated figures for the quarter this morning (9 July).
Polar Capital said its AuM were £15.2bn compared to £12.2bn at the end of March 2020 - an increase of 25% over the quarter.
In the quarter, AuM increased by £3bn of which £488m were net subscriptions, offset by outflows of £301m from closing the UK Absolute Equity Fund and £2.9bn related to market movement and fund performance.
Wealth Manager Charles Stanley said after the market-driven steep decline in funds under management and administration ("FuMA") at the end of the last financial year, resulting from the global impact of Covid-19, FuMA has "recovered well".
It said group revenue for the first quarter of the financial year was 1.7% ahead of the same period last year due to both greater trading activity, resulting in higher commission income, and strong progress from the financial planning division, which offset the impact of reduced interest income.
FuMA at 30 June 2020 increased by 11.9% to £22.6bn over the three months from £20.2bn as at 31 March 2020.
More on Funds
