Hermes Focus fund investment teams set to join RWC
18 Sep 2012
UK - The three investment teams responsible for managing the Hermes Focus funds are to join asset manager RWC on 1 October.
Together, the teams - comprising 12 investment and support staff - currently manage more than $800m (€610m) in assets for a range of institutional clients.
The investment teams will continue to manage the Focus funds - which will be renamed the RWC Focus funds - in their new roles at RWC.
Maarten Wildschut and Petteri Soininen manage the European Focus fund, Paul Harrison, Nigel Davies and Phil Harris manage the Specialist UK Focus fund, and Nissay Asset Management - advised by Corinna Arnold and Michael Connors - manages the Japan Stewardship fund.
The heads of the investment teams are become partners at RWC, which currently has more than $4.1bn in assets under management.
Peter Harrison, chief executive at RWC, said the teams had taken the concept of active management to its "fullest extent" by improving businesses through "constructive activism".
"The recent Kay Review in the UK sets out a clear vision of how asset managers improve their engagement and emphasises investing over trading and the impact that constructively interacting with companies has on long-term returns," he said.
"These funds and teams epitomise a great deal of what Professor Kay is seeking to achieve."
Harrison said the teams would be free to deploy their investment processes independently.
Author: IPE staff
