Henderson Global Investors’ multi-manager team has cut its equity exposure and raised cash in a defensive move in its £435m Multi-Manager Managed fund.
The group’s multi-managers said that at the end of February they reduced exposure to Artemis’s £317m European Growth fund, run by Philip Wolstencroft and Peter Saacke, as well as Old Mutual Global Investors’ £334.2m UK Dynamic Equity fund, run by Luke Kerr.
The team also reduced its exposure to the top-performing £1.2bn Cazenove UK Smaller Companies fund, which has since been rebranded as Schroder UK Dynamic Smaller Companies. The fund was hard closed in January.
At the time, Schroders’ managing director of UK intermediary Robin Stoakley said: “The fund is consistently top decile, and the decision to close the fund was taken to protect the returns that existing investors have seen in recent years and to ensure that the fund’s objective is delivered.”
Henderson’s multi-manager team said it had put the proceeds from these reductions – and those from its reduced exposure to Henderson’s own Global Growth fund, run by Ian Warmerdam, and a long position in a Nikkei 225 index future – into cash.
The team said the Old Mutual and Artemis funds had been some of the best performers in February, returning 7.5 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively.
Exposure to Japan was a headwind for the fund after the £556m Jupiter Japan Income fund, run by Simon Somerville and Dan Carter, fell 2 per cent in the month, and the £1.2bn GLG Japan CoreAlpha fund, run by Stephen Harker, fund lost 0.3 per cent.