Gavin Haynes, Whitechurch Securities MD, says the move is likely to be similar to the one Richard Pease embarked on last year, when he took his fund to Crux.
“We expect there to be minimal disruption to shareholders as the funds are being moved over in their entirety,” Haynes said, and Russ and Barry Norris have very different ways of running money.”
Brewin Dolphin fund analyst, Anna Haugaard: “While Barry and Ollie have a long history of working together from their days at Neptune and then launching their own independent boutique, we believe the two were sufficiently independent investors for this split to be successful.”
As a result Brewins has decided to keep its buy recommendation on the fund for the moment.
There is also the prospect of increased growth for the funds in their new home.
“We think the move to Liontrust will be good for Ollie,” Haugaard told Portfolio Adviser. “He will continue to have autonomy at Liontrust and also stands to benefit from input from the wider team there, including Anthony Cross.”
Darius McDermott, MD at Chelsea Financial Services says the move is not surprising given that Liontrust is very much in a growth phase.
“I see this as a win-win. For Liontrust to acquire a highly regarded manager with assets is great for them, while Norris will carry on doing what he does at Argonaut so I do not see any down side for him or his fund,” he said.
In fact, McDermott said, “it is probably the best thing for both sides.”
Haynes also sees another benefit. “Both funds are fairly small, which is quite surprising, but Liontrust has a higher profile retail brand than Argonaut and has greater distribution capability so it is likely that the funds will be able to gather more assets.”
As for the change of ownership, McDermott said that too could be beneficial. “Norris will no longer have part of his destiny controlled by a third party. Bringing Jonathan Polin in as chairman seems like a good fit as clearly they already know each other well.”
