InvestmentsMar 30 2020

Clay and team to join boutique RWC

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Clay and team to join boutique RWC

The team responsible for BNY Mellon’s £10bn global equity range is set to join boutique fund manager RWC Partners.

Last week FTAdviser reported Nick Clay, head of Newton Investment Management’s equity income team, was to leave Newton IM —  an investment management subsidiary of BNY Mellon — with three of his colleagues. 

The team of four, which includes co-manager Andrew MacKirdy, currently run BNY Mellon’s £5.3bn Global Income fund.

They also manage BNY’s £23.4m Sustainable Global Equity Income fund, its £1.4bn Global Equity Income fund and the £88m Emerging Income fund alongside other related portfolios.

RWC became independent last year when it bought its stake from Schroders. It is now owned by its management and investors and has nearly £12bn assets under management.

Darius McDermott, managing director of FundCalibre, said: “This is a great hire for RWC. Mr Clay and the team are very experienced, and the boutique doesn’t yet have a global equity income franchise, so it’s a gap the company can fill very nicely.

“RWC has hired teams before with great success: they enticed Ian Lance, Nick Purves and John Teahan from Schroders in 2013, and Graham Clapp and his team from his own company Pensato and previously Fidelity in 2017.”

Mr McDermott said he saw “no reason” why this success could not be replicated with the BNY Mellon team in the future.

He added: “It’s an exciting new start for them and I look forward to seeing details of a new fund launch in the not-too-distant future.”

At BNY Mellon, Ilga Haubelt, previously head of equity opportunities at Newton, will take over as head of equity income at the firm.

The news of Mr Clay’s departure has caused ratings services such as FundCalibre and Square Mile to strip the BNY Mellon Global Income fund of its star rating.

imogen.tew@ft.com

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