Henry Dixon’s Man GLG UK Income fund has been readmitted to the Investment Association (IA) UK Equity Income sector, two years after it was expelled for not meeting yield requirements.
The fund has returned to the sector from the IA UK All Companies peer group.
This comes as the IA consults on whether to overhaul UK Equity Income sector requirements for members to yield 10 per cent more than the FTSE All-Share over a rolling three-year period.
Since 2013 nearly 20 funds have been ejected from the sector for failing to pass this hurdle. Mr Dixon’s fund is the first to re-enter the sector.
The readmission comes as Man GLG’s plans to merge its American Growth portfolio into the UK income product.
The company is proposing to combine its £128m American Growth fund, which invests primarily in US stocks and is managed by John Gisondi, into Mr Dixon’s £108m offering on June 3, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.
Mr Gisondi has been the sole manager on the American fund since December 2014, though he also runs a variety of mandates in the US.
According to FE Analytics, Man GLG American Growth has returned 36 per cent over three years, 4.9 percentage points behind the IA North America sector average.
The UK Income fund has returned 30 per cent over three years compared to a 22 per cent average for the IA UK Equity Income sector and 19 per cent for the IA UK All Companies sector.
Man GLG declined to comment on the reason for the proposed merger.
