Alliance Trust unveils its “best in class” fund managers

Beleaguered investment trust, Alliance Trust, has revealed the fund managers it will use to manage the firm’s £3.3 billion (€3.7 billion) of assets.

The UK’s oldest investment trust’s board has appointed consultancy Willis Towers Watson to become the investment manager, working with eight equity managers.

Alliance Trust recently sold its investment management arm at the end of last year to Liontrust for £30 million after a difficult year which saw the departure of its investment chief Katherine Garrett-Cox.

Her departure came after a spat with shareholder Elliot Advisers over strategy. Elliott eventually succeeded in getting three non-executive directors on the Alliance Trust board.

In the latest move, Craig Baker, chief investment officer for Willis Towers Watson, will lead a team responsible for the combined portfolio, with David Shapiro and Mark Davis as co-portfolio managers and Stuart Gray as the lead researcher.

The firms and managers were revealed on the London Stock Exchange yesterday and are:

  • Toronto-based Black Creek Investment Management, led by Bill Kanko
  • Los Angeles-based First Pacific Advisors led by Pierre Py and Greg Herr
  • Fort Lauderdale-based GQG Partners led by Rajiv Jain
  • London-based Jupiter Asset Management led by Ben Whitmore
  • New York-based Lyrical Asset Management, led by Andrew Wellington
  • London-based River and Mercantile Asset Management led by Hugh Sergeant
  • Stamford-based Sustainable Growth Advisers led by George Fraise, Gordon Marchand and Rob Rohn
  • London-based Veritas Asset Management, led by Andt Headley

Lord Smith of Kelvin, chairman of Alliance Trust, said: “Alliance Trust has provided investors with attractive returns and income through many generations. Our ambition is to ensure that it continues to do so, thereby remaining a core holding.”

©2017 funds europe

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