Somerset Capital Management, the boutique investment management firm co-founded by Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, is set to be wound down.
It comes days after the FT reported that it lost more than two-thirds of its assets after SJP decided to terminate its relationship with Somerset in order to seek out "lower cost strategies".
Somerset was managing nearly £600mn in a global emerging markets fund and around £1.4bn of a £2.8bn in an emerging markets equity fund for SJP (the rest of the money in the latter fund is run by Arga Investment Management, Lazard and Wasatch Global Investors).
Yesterday, FT Adviser's sister title Asset Allocator reported this means Somerset Capital's total assets will fall from about £2.77bn to about £790mn.
The firm has said it is in "advanced talks" to transfer its top performing funds to a new investment adviser and has confirmed its wider institutional business in London will close down.
Oliver Crawley, partner at Somerset, said: "It has been a privilege to manage capital for world-leading institutions and clients for over 16 years. I am incredibly proud of all we have achieved in that time through the hard work and skill of our dedicated team.
"The current teams have delivered strong performance for their investors and continue to do so. We hope a transition can be secured which we believe will give the funds a bright future."
Somerset's funds, including the £82mn Somerset Asia Income fund and £65mn Somerset Emerging Market Dividend Growth fund, along with their key investment team, are seeking to transition to a new investment adviser but will retain the existing fund and third-party infrastructure.
The company claims that if this is the case this will ensure the "seamless continuity" of the funds and their managers, while positioning them for continued growth.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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