River and Mercantile is on the hunt for fund managers in a bid to expand its range of expertise.
In the fund house’s quarterly trading update, published today (July 27), group chief executive James Barham said River and Mercantile was looking to add a global quality growth equity team and an alternative credit team to its staff.
He said: “We have a fantastic business rich in talent and expertise and are diversified across some of the key growth sectors of our industry.
“However, there are parts of our business where I would like to see greater diversification and in particular in some of our manufacturing capabilities.”
He noted the company’s expansion of its fund manager arsenal had already started with the hiring of James Sym from Schroders to develop its European equity strategy.
Other parts of River and Mercantile’s growth plans include investing heavily in its distribution.
Earlier this year it announced developing its distribution as one of the company’s key priorities for 2020, eyeing a £3.8m investment across its UK, Australia and US businesses.
In today’s results, Mr Barham said he had been working with David Hanratty, the recently hired global head of distribution, to “finesse” the fund house’s plans for the future and that the group had made “some great strides” already this year.
He added: “Our continuing investment in distribution, and where appropriate investment manufacturing, is a key part of our medium-term strategy.
“Supporting this with an efficient and aligned operating platform across the entirety of our business is critical and we plan to increase our investment in this part of our operations over the next few years to enhance operational efficiency over the medium term.”
Today’s results also showed River and Mercantile’s fee-earning assets under management increased by 9.3 per cent to £44.2bn in the three months to June.
Investors piled some £1.5bn of cash into its fund range while positive market movements boosted its Aum by £2.3bn.
Mr Barham said: “We look forward to the new financial year with confidence. We have and will continue to make some significant investments in our business to boost our distribution capabilities and to enhance and deepen our investment resources to meet our clients' needs.
“We are beginning to see some very positive signs following the investment in distribution we have made over the past year and this places us in a strong position as we head into the new financial year."
imogen.tew@ft.com
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