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Within its Gartmore MultiManager-branded range, the £2.2m UK High Alpha and £3.9m Global High Alpha funds will combine to form the Absolute Return fund in October, subject to regulatory approval.

Like its predecessors, the Absolute Return fund will be a Nurs portfolio. It will sit in the IMA Absolute Return sector, whereas the UK High Alpha fund was in UK All Companies and the Global High Alpha in Global Growth.

The £672m Cautious Managed, £314m Balanced and £5.6m Active funds will remain unchanged as a result of the move.

Gartmore had been considering a portfolio merger since June, just after the appointment of Tony Lanning as head of multi-manager.

The company announced a review of the multi-manager range in April when then head of multi-manager Bambos Hambi announced he was reconsidering his future at the firm.

At the time, it said it would look at whether Active, UK High Alpha and Global High Alpha - all Gartmore MultiManager funds - should remain as independent portfolios due to their small size.

The move is part of a shake-up of Gartmore's UK retail business, which has seen the appointment of senior figures including Richard Pursglove as head of the department.

Mr Pursglove said: "Although we adopt a multi-asset approach across all our multi-manager portfolios, this will be Gartmore’s first absolute return strategy in the UK retail space – a move that has been driven by client demand and is a natural fit for our business."