UK equities

Standard Life Investments' Ed Legget has bought into Barclays in both his £447m UK Equity Unconstrained and £67m UK Equity High Alpha funds to take advantage of its depressed share price.

River & Mercantile's Hugh Sergeant said negative investor sentiment is pushing up equity risk premiums to credit crunch levels despite strong balance sheets among UK companies.

The annual IMA asset management survey has shown a slump in interest in UK equities as investors look further afield for returns.

Ardevora has begun promoting its UK Equity fund, unveiling a number of long and short positions taken since its launch in February.

Threadneedle's head of UK equities Simon Brazier has warned the chance of the UK sliding back into recession is high, but said market short-termism represents an opportunity not a threat.

Standard Life Investments has pushed back the soft-closure of Harry Nimmo's £1.1.bn UK Smaller Companies fund to the end of August, after initially planning to cap the fund on 27 June.

Neil Woodford is poised to increase the limit on overseas investments in his £940m Edinburgh investment trust to 20%, as the manager continues to find better income opportunities outside of the UK.

F&C Thames River is to streamline its UK fund range next month by merging two of its UK equity funds into larger offerings.

UBS is to rename its £53m UK Select fund the UBS UK Opportunities fund from 10 June.

Giles Hargreave, chairman of Hargreave Hale and manager of Marlborough's £372m Special Situations fund, has positioned his portfolio to be heavily exposed to UK-listed companies trading internationally.