Standard Life Investments (SLI) is set to merge away almost all the retail funds it took over last year as part of its £390m acquisition of Ignis Asset Management.
Subject to shareholder approval, 11 Ignis funds will be merged into SLI counterparts as of October 23. They include the £258m Corporate Bond, £178m Managed Portfolio, £121m Balanced Growth, £108m American Growth, and £113m UK Equity Income funds.
SLI has scheduled emergency general meetings, at which shareholders will vote on its proposals, for October 8. If approved, the Ignis funds will close to dealing on October 16. Trading in the newly enlarged SLI funds would then resume on October 26 following the mergers.
Earlier this summer SLI formally renamed 10 funds and changed the authorised corporate director on the range from Ignis Asset Management Limited to Standard Life Investments. Those ten portfolios are now all scheduled to shut as part of the merger plans.
SLI has been steadily integrating Ignis Asset Management since it acquired the fund house from Phoenix Group in March of last year.
Several high profile Ignis managers have now left the group, with ex-CIO Chris Fellingham the latest to depart last month. However, no managers have left the group as part of this merger process, Standard Life confirmed.
The £535m Ignis Absolute Return Government Bond fund previously run by Mr Fellingham and the £1.6bn SLI Iginis UK Property fund, run by George Shaw, are not part of the merger programme.
The group said the mergers are “part of the ongoing integration process”.
| Ex-Ignis fund | Funds absorbing ex-Ignis portfolios |
| SLI Ignis American Growth fund | SLI American Equity Unconstrained fund |
| SLI Ignis Balanced Growth fund | SLI UK Equity High Alpha fund |
| SLI Ignis Corporate Bond fund* | SLI Corporate Bond fund* |
| SLI Ignis European Growth fund | SLI European Equity Growth fund |
| SLI Ignis European Smaller Companies fund** | SLI Europe ex UK Smaller Companies fund** |
| SLI Ignis Global Growth fund | SLI Global Equity Unconstrained fund |
| SLI Ignis High Income Bond fund | SLI Higher Income fund |
| SLI Ignis Managed Portfolio fund | SLI MyFolio Managed IV fund |
| SLI Ignis Pacific Growth fund | SLI Asian Pacific Growth fund |
| SLI Ignis Smaller Companies fund | SLI UK Smaller Companies fund |
| SLI Ignis UK Equity Income fund | SLI UK Equity High Income fund |
*The SLI Ignis Corporate Bond fund will turn into a new SLI Corporate Bond fund. The existing SLI Corporate Bond fund, is being renamed to the SLI Investment Grade Corporate Bond fund.
**The SLI Ignis European Smaller Companies fund is being put into a “different legal structure” that does not already exist, the SLI Europe ex UK Smaller Companies fund, will therefore be anew fund, the group have confirmed.
