The UK Civil Service Benevolent Fund has selected Baring Asset Management to manage a £19m (e31m) balanced charity portfolio, following the transfer of assets from an unnamed manager.
Robert Hubble, assistant director at the fund says the decision coincides with expansion of the portfolio following the sale of nursing homes owned by the fund. Expressions of interest from 30 managers were whittled down to a shortlist of seven by fund adviser HSBC Gibbs.
Hubble comments: “We review these things on a regular basis and decided that the doubling of the portfolio over a short period meant we needed to look at who might best use the assets. The fact Barings had a common investment fund was certainly something which appealed to trustees.”
Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI) has shifted £30m (e49m) in assets within the European equity portfolio of its multi-manager pooled funds structure from Scottish Widows Investment Managers (SWIM) to Blackrock, following the recent defection of the investment team led by Albert Morillo.
NTGI says the decision is based on continued support for Morillo, with whom the firm has been investing since March last year, and is in line with the underlying philosophy of the multi-manager programme to support individuals rather than investment houses.
London-based Global Asset Management (GAM) has also switched assets previously held in SWIM as a result of the team move.
David Smith, chief investment director at GAM, says the vast majority of the SWIM holdings in many of GAM’s funds were redeemed almost immediately after the defection.