Under the terms of the deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval, Liontrust will buy Argonaut’s European income business for cash equal to 1.5% of the European income business’s assets under management that are transferred.
The deal will also see Standard Life Investments sell its passive, minority stake in the firm. The stake is a hold over from the original creation of the business – it was set up as a joint venture between the Argonaut founders and Britannic Asset Management, which later became known as Ignis.
Once the deal is complete, Russ’s existing two funds, the FP Argonaut European Income and FP Argonaut European Enhanced Income funds will be merged into two soon-to-launch funds: the Liontrust European Income and Liontrust European Enhanced Income Funds, adding approximately £298m to Liontrust’s AUM.
The two new funds will continue to be run by Russ, as head of European Income at Liontrust, according to the same process as the one he used at Argonaut.
“The European Income Business has scale and expands our equity income capability, which currently comprises the Liontrust Macro Equity Income, Asia Income and Global Income funds,” Liontrust said in a statement to the stock exchange.
According to Argonaut, the deal allows it to focus on the “fast-growing core of its business” – the firm’s European Alpha, pan-European Alpha and absolute return franchises.
“This ownership agreement demonstrates my belief in Argonaut and my long term personal commitment to the business, our people and our unitholders,” Norris said.
Argonaut also announced the appointment of Sanlam CEO Jonathan Polin as chairman. According to the firm, Polin played an instrumental role in the founding of Argonaut while he was at Britannic Asset Management, which later became Ignis.
“I have a long association with Argonaut and am extremely pleased to witness its strong growth, particularly since the business became operationally independent,” Polin said of the appointment.
Alongside this development Liontrust reported its assets under management increased by £297m over the financial year to the end of March to £4.8bn. Net inflows were £255m in the financial year and £92m for the quarter to 31 March.
