As part of its ongoing review of the business, the investment manager has decided to rename its £62.4m Rathbones Recovery Fund to the Rathbones UK Opportunities Fund.
The fund rebrand coincides with the news that Rathbones is in talks with Smith & Williamson over a potential merger.
Save for the name change and de-emphasis on “recovery”, the fund’s objective remains the same, focusing on identifying primarily UK companies that are undervalued across the market capitalisation spectrum.
Mike Webb (pictured), chief executive of the Rathbones Unit Trust, explained: “It has become apparent that the term ‘recovery investing’ has become increasingly ambiguous with the definition of ‘recovery’ now applied too widely to be meaningful to investors.
“Fund managers frequently refer to differing characteristics when applying the term ‘recovery’ and their mandates may embody varying investment styles and risk profiles.
“We have always sought to describe our investment propositions as lucidly as possible, and so have taken the step of renaming the Rathbone Recovery Fund to Rathbone UK Opportunities Fund.
“In doing so, we aim to give potential investors a much clearer impression of what they can expect from the fund.”
The firm also announced that Rands, one of the fund’s co-managers, will also be stepping down to pursue other opportunities outside of the investment industry.
Rands had co-managed the fund allongside Alexandra Jackson since joining Rathbones in 2014.
Following her departure, co-manager Jackson will continue to run the fund with help from the research team.
Rathbones has said that it intends to appoint a dedicated investment professional to replace Rands in due course.
As part of the revamp, Rathbones said it will lower the annual management charge (AMC) on the fund from 0.75% to 0.45% for I-class units. It intends to review this position after a period of three years, or until the fund’s assets under management reach £250m.
Both the name change and the lower AMC will take effect from 23 October 2017.
Webb expects the lower AMC and the fund’s newly achieved three-year track record under Jackson and Rands will prove “compelling to a much wider group of investors”.
Over a three-year time horizon, the Rathbone Recovery fund returned 27.9% against the IA UK All Companies’ 26.8%.
