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Investec Asset Management has retaken control of its £235.4m Global Energy fund.

Both the UK Oeic and its larger offshore mirror will be brought in-house and run by new recruits Mark Lacey and Jonathan Waghorn, who joined the Investec commodities division last week from Goldman Sachs.

Domenico Ferrini, UK investment director at Investec, said the transition was a reflection of the firm's desire to make use of its own expertise, not on Tim Guinness, at Guinness Asset Management, who ran the fund from May 2003.

Over the last three years, Mr Guinness returned 86.6 per cent compared with the MSCI World Energy index return of 55.2 per cent.

Mr Ferrini said: "We outsourced the mandate to Guinness in 2003 and it has been a successful relationship, but the catalyst for change was our commodities business, which is gaining momentum.

"Bringing the funds in-house is going to deliver long-term returns to clients, and we would not be doing it if we were not committed to commodities."

New managers Mr Lacey and Mr Waghorn were executive directors at Goldman Sachs and were joint heads of the group's energy research team.

Mr Ferrini said the managers' background as sell-side analysts meant they would be capable of high-conviction stock picking.

"Our commodities team is well established within the industry and Mr Lacey and Mr Waghorn approached us - they liked the opportunity they saw at Investec.

"They are top-rated analysts who have stock-picking abilities."

The pair are expected to make some tweaks to the Global Energy portfolio, but are understood to be satisfied with the overall shape left by Mr Guinness.

They will also help introduce a broader set of instruments to reduce the fund's volatility across the board for Investec's commodities operation, Mr Ferrini said.

OBSR has since suspended its double-A rating until meeting the new managers.