Schroders is set to face stiff competition for former manager Julie Dean’s UK Growth investment trust after chairman Alan Clifton revealed there had been a raft of interested managers.
The chairman of the board told Investment Adviser the amount of groups interested in running the trust went into double figures.
The board announced a ‘beauty parade’ of potential alternative managers for the trust on Setptember 11, a few days after Ms Dean’s shock resignation from Schroders.
Schroders said it would put Matt Hudson forward as a potential manager. Mr Hudson took control of the trust on the back of Ms Dean’s departure and will continue to run it until a decision is made.
Mr Clifton said: “The proposals number well into the double digits and we would hope to have a decision by this time next month.”
He added there are a substantial number and range of proposals that the board and its advisers are currently reviewing.
The board has removed all gearing from the trust while the review takes place.
The trust had underperformed its FTSE All-Share index benchmark during Ms Dean’s tenure from July last year to her departure last month.
It returned nearly 10.4 per cent compared to the index’s 14.2 per cent, according to data from FE Analytics.
However, Ms Dean’s long-term track record on her open-ended UK Opportunities fund was extremely strong. The fund delivered a return of 234.8 per cent from when she took it on in December 2002 compared to the 190.6 per cent rise in the FTSE All-Share index, according to data from FE Analytics.
