Schroders will merge Nathan Gibbs’ £30m Schroder Japan Alpha Plus fund into the £2.2bn Schroder Tokyo fund managed by Andrew Rose for “economies of scale”.
Subject to regulatory approval the merger will take place on January 29 2016.
Mr Gibbs is to return to London to the role of client portfolio manager for Japanese equities.
In the newly created position, he will cover Japanese equity clients and prospects in the UK and Continental Europe, reporting to Taku Arai, head of equities management, Japan.
A spokesperson for Schroders said: “At Schroders, we continuously review our fund range to ensure we provide our clients with the best possible investment solutions. The merger into the Schroder Tokyo fund will provide unitholders with the benefit of economies of scale brought about through the management of a larger pool of assets.”
It added the merger would result in lower ongoing charges for unitholders of the Schroder Japan Alpha Plus fund.
The spokesperson added: “Both funds have similar investment objectives and employ the same investment and borrowing powers. The funds have a comparable investment approach and follow bottom-up fundamental research driven investment principles.”
In the past 12 months to December 17, the Schroder Tokyo fund has generated a 17.5 per cent return, in line with the IA Japan sector average of 17.4 per cent, while Mr Gibbs’ Japan Alpha Plus fund managed to return just 10 per cent to investors, according to FE Analytics.
