Jonathan Polin’s roles at Sanlam and Argonaut Capital will remain independent, a spokesman for the asset manager confirmed.
Mr Polin, who is chief executive of Sanlam, was appointed chairman of Argonaut today (7 March) after its founder Barry Norris assumed full ownership.
A spokesman for Argonaut said Mr Polin will remain in his position at Sanlam and that his two roles will be completely independent.
He joined Sanlam at the beginning of this year, with a view to turning the company into one of the UK’s leading wealth managers.
Argonaut was formed as a joint venture between its founders and Britannic Asset Management in 2005.
At the time Mr Polin was sales and marketing director at Britannic, where he was involved in the company’s transformation into Ignis, including the creation of its boutiques.
Standard Life Investments kept a passive minority take in Argonaut after its acquisition of Ignis in 2014, but following today’s deal, both SLI and Oliver Russ will exit the business.
Liontrust has agreed to acquire Argonaut’s £169m European Income and £131m Enhanced Income funds with their manager, Mr Russ, moving to the company.
Argonaut will focus on the “fast-growing core” of its business, such as its European Alpha, pan-European Alpha and Absolute Return franchises – which now have more than £1.1bn of assets under management.
Mr Polin said: “I have a long association with Argonaut and am extremely pleased to witness its strong growth, particularly since the business became operationally independent.”
