Aberdeen Expands SICAV Range
Aberdeen Asset Management has added to its Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV range by launching three new funds. The Aberdeen Emerging Markets Corporate Bond fund will be managed by the firm's emerging market debt team which is headed by Brett Diment; the team is in charge of over $600 million in assets and the new fund has been seeded with $120 million from existing clients. The Aberdeen Ethical World Equity will be run by their global equity team, which is led by Stephen Docherty; the Edinburgh-based team runs over $1 billion in environmental, social and corporate governance mandates. Aberdeen has also launched an American Smaller Companies fund, which will be managed by their Philadelphia-based team in the United States.
Baillie Gifford Appoints New Partners
Edinburgh-based Baillie Gifford will appoint three new partners on May 1, 2011. The firm is wholly owned and managed by its partners who work full time in the business. May's appointment will take the total number of partners at the firm to 37. The new partners are Malcolm MacColl, Bill Pacula and David Salter. MacColl is a senior portfolio manager in Baillie Gifford's global alpha equity team and joined the firm in 1999. Pacula has responsibility for business development in the US and Canada and is based in New York; he is the first person to become an international partner. David Salter joined Baillie Gifford in 2001 and is a client director in the firm's institutional clients department. Since 2007 he has become more involved with the EAFE Alpha international equity strategy and he is a core member of its portfolio construction group.
RLAM Renames Fund
As of January 21, 2011, Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) will change the name of their Royal London UK Special Situations Fund--a sub-fund of Royal London Equity Funds ICVC--to the Royal London UK Opportunities Fund. The name change is being made in order to better represent the fund's investment process. The change will have no effect on the way the fund is managed.
Franklin Completes Acquisition of Rensburg
Franklin Templeton Global Investors has announced the completion of the acquisition of Leeds-based Rensburg Fund Management. The transaction was completed on Tuesday of this week (January 18) for £45 million ($71 million) and will bolster Franklin Templeton's fund offerings in the UK. The firm has also managed to keep Rensburg's manager line-up, a line-up that has produced strong track records in core UK equity products.