Ashby was previously lead manager of the LV= UK Equity Income Fund, the assets of which were transferred to Threadneedle when it effectively acquired LV Asset Management at the end of last year.
The £86m fund he is taking over from Martin Brown – who has left the business – has under-performed its sector over the past three months, one, three and five years; it is fourth quartile over the same time periods.
Ashby’s tenure at LVAM saw him provide top quartile performance.
His appointment is part of the company’s strategy to overhaul its fund range and in particular the performance of some of the core fund holdings such as those in its UK equity range. Mark Lovett joined as the chief investment officer for equities in October 2010, 12 months befroe Mark Holden was named manager of its UK Focus Fund.
The three have worked together previously, at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell/DWS Investments, where Ashby managed a number of UK equity income portfolios.
His previous role to joining Ignis was as head of UK equities at LV= Asset Management, overseeing £1.3bn of assets. Prior to this, he was head of UK retail equities at Credit Suisse Asset Management, where he was lead manager of three UK equity income funds. He was also head of equity income & UK equities at Sarasin Chiswell.
Of his ambitions, he said: “My aim is simple – to achieve top quartile performance on a consistent basis for the Ignis UK Equity Income Fund.”
