Fund giant BlackRock has lost the mandate to the manage the £470m St James Place Alternative Assets fund after a run of poor performance that left it languishing at the very bottom of the rankings.
As FTAdviser reported this morning (25 May), wealth manager St James Place has, as part of its latest fund shakeup, replaced the managers of a number of its funds.
BlackRock’s Market Advantage team have lost the management of the Alternative Assets fund, which will now be run by US-based Wellington Asset Management.
The St James Place Alternative Assets fund is the absolute worst performer out of 117 funds in the IA Flexible Investment sector over the past five years to 24 May.
During that time it has returned 5 per cent compared with 38 per cent for the average fund in the sector in the same time period.
Also today Axa Framlington has been replaced as manager of the £777m Balanced Fund, which will now be run partly by Ben Inker of GMO Asset Management and partly by Mark Baribeau of Jennison Associates.
The fund had been placed on a “watch list” by St James Place following the announcement that the Axa Framlington employee who had been running the fund, Richard Peirson is retiring from the industry.
Chris Ralph, chief investment officer at St James Place said: “The appointment of GMO and Jennison Associates blends two complementary investment styles and provides greater flexibility to allocate across asset classes over a market cycle.
"GMO will lead a value-orientated asset allocation strategy exclusive to St. James’s Place investors in the UK, and Jennison Associates will manage a concentrated portfolio of global equities.”
David.Thorpe@ft.com
