InvestmentsSep 4 2018

Axa hires former Aviva manager for £85m fund

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Axa hires former Aviva manager for £85m fund

Axa Framlington has hired Simon Young from Heartwood Partners to run its £85m Blue Chip Equity Income fund.

Mr Young had previously managed the Aviva UK equity fund,and before that worked at BlackRock and Royal Bank of Scotland.

He has succeeded Jamie Forbes-Wilson as manager of the Axa fund, who will focus on the  Axa Distribution funds he has managed since 2016.

Apart from its modest size, the Axa fund has been mediocre in performance terms. Over the past five years to 3 September, it has returned 37 per cent, compared with 39 per cent for the average fund in the IA UK Equity Income sector in the same time period.

Rob Bailey, head of UK Distribution at Axa said: "Simon joining this highly respected team demonstrates our commitment to UK equity strategies. Our offering continues to be a flagship fund range for our clients and with this addition we seek to strengthen our income proposition and provide important additional resource.

"This hire will help grow our assets further in the UK equity income space, with Simon working closely with George Luckraft on our successful UK equity income range.

"Simon brings significant additional large cap equity investing experience to the team, he comes with new ideas and a fresh perspective that will complement the existing skill set."

david.thorpe@ft.com