Richard Buxton, fund manager and chief executive of Old Mutual Global Investors, has said the firm will be a 'boutique' when it splits from its parent company later this year.
As FTAdviser previously reported, Mr Buxton and colleagues have teamed up with private equity firm TA Associates to buyout the single strategy funds business of Old Mutual.
The target date for the separation is the middle of 2018.
Mr Buxton said his aim is for the business to be a boutique, with the funds having high active shares and a high level of alpha.
I think lots of big firms don't really want to be active managers anymore.Richard BuxtonHe said: "I don't think economies of scale works for active fund management, and I think lots of big firms don't really want to be active managers anymore."
He added he wants his new fund house to "have a purpose" beyond the requirements of company law to maximise returns to shareholders.
He has also said he expects the executive committee that would run the business to have a majority of female members.
Turning to his outlook for markets, Mr Buxton said he expects UK economic growth to accelerate to 2 per cent this year, far ahead of the official forecast of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for growth in 2018 to be 1.5 per cent.
Mr Buxton said he doesn't have "one iota" of worry about the outlook for the UK market and said we may be at a tipping point.
He said a friend of his who is a broker in New York informed him that a client of his had sold his last UK equity adding "now surely that is a tipping point, a time to 'fill your boots' in the UK market?"
Mr Buxton, who runs the £2.1bn Old Mutual UK Alpha fund, has been buying more shares in the retailers Next and Tesco.
He said he sold his Tesco shares in 2010 as the company launched a plan to open stores in the US, a strategy he didn't like, prompting him to sell the shares.
But he said that strategy has been unwound and the company is now largely focused on its UK operations.
Mr Buxton expects the return of real wage growth in the UK to contribute positively to economic growth in the coming year.
When asked for his views on Mr Buxton's plans for OMGI, Ben Yearsley, director at Shore Financial Planning, said: "The history of being a chief and a high profile fund manager isn't that great.
"To combine the role I think you need a very good chief operating office to take up the daily slack of running an organisation. Will Richard succeed? I hope so, as he is an excellent fund manager.
"I think being part owner of the business is good as it should align investors and fund manager interests.
"I also prefer the business being unlisted. I am not a great fan of fund management businesses being stock market listed as there is too much pressure on fund raising.
"On the plans for the business they have got some very talented fund managers within OMGI already with the likes of Dan Nickols and Ian Heslop, for example, but have the opportunity to attract new talent going forwards."
david.thorpe@ft.com
