Merian Global Investors' head of global equities, Ian Heslop, is to take over as joint manager of a pair of the firm's European equity funds.
Mr Heslop and his team manage about £15bn of assets across a range of global and US equity funds, and will now take over the management of the £95m Merian European Ex UK Equity fund and the £25m Merian European Equity fund.
Mr Heslop and his team use a quantitative investment approach, which involves examining share prices and market trends, rather than focusing on economic trends or specific stock selection.
This approach means the fund manager can apply the same process to a variety of markets, in a way that a manager who is more focused on macroeconomics on individual stock selection may not be able to.
Mr Heslop said: "Using our adaptable approach we constantly assess market sentiment, flexing our portfolios in order to select the best investment ideas for every economic environment.
"Despite caution towards European equities, we believe there are exciting outperformance opportunities to be found using our process. We look forward to adding value for investors."
Mr Heslop takes over the funds from Ian Ormiston, who will continue to run his European Smaller Companies fund.
Mr Ormiston took over the management of the funds in 2017.
Richard Buxton, head of equities and former chief executive of Merian, said in December that developing the large cap European equity products was among the areas of future growth for the firm.
Mr Heslop and Mr Buxton are among the six fund managers who own shares in Merian Global Investors, alongside a private equity firm.
david.thorpe@ft.com
