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Premier Asset Management has merged its £2.9m Global fund into the £24.5m Enterprise vehicle and broadened the remit, allowing the new fund to invest in investment companies registered both on and offshore.

The merger took place on 1 June.

The two open-ended funds, which are both funds of investment trusts, have been managed by Nigel Sidebottom and Philip Davies since the Global fund was inherited by Premier from BFS in 2005.

Mr Sidebottom joined the firm at the same time.

Simon Weldon, managing director of sales and marketing at Premier, said the move would enable the managers to be unhindered in selecting the best closed-end vehicles regardless of location.

"The Global fund has always had a wider remit, because it could take whichever manager it thought was best, regardless of where the fund was registered, whereas the Enterprise fund was restricted to UK-registered investment trusts," he said. "Now we can go across the world in terms of finding the best managers.

"Instead of trying to find a UK company investing in Germany, we can find someone who is an expert in local market."

The new portfolio will have a tilt towards UK equities, accounting for 18.67 per cent, with Europe and Emerging Europe making up 12.31 per cent and 10.67 per cent respectively. Commodities and property will make up approximately 40 per cent of the portfolio.

Mr Weldon said changes to the portfolio would be gradual. "It will evolve as they decide where they want to invest next," he said.

The Enterprise fund has returned 49.45 per cent over three years to 26 May, compared with the IMA Active Managed sector average of 40.66 per cent. The fund is ranked eighth out 62, according to Morningstar.

Over one year, the Global fund has returned 11.9 per cent.

The changes follow on from Premier's recent launch of the Global DSR fund, managed by Mike Jennings, which went live on 22 May and sits in the IMA's new Absolute Return sector.