Richard Wilmot, investment leader for UK equities at Newton and manager of the £1.3bn Newton UK Equity Fund, has been named as the new lead manager on the portfolio.
Frikkee is “in discussion” with the asset manager about her role at the company.
Simon Pryke, chief investment officer at Newton, said: “We believe that the UK equity team, under Richard’s leadership and working closely with our 17-strong global sector research analysts, will be well positioned to continue to successfully manage our UK equity portfolios going forward.”
The company also announced changes to the way the Newton Higher Income Fund is managed. The portfolio’s buy and sell discipline will be widened while its yield will be steadily reduced to allow the dividend to grow from the new, lower yield and provide an attractive total return to investors.
Pryke added: “We are confident that going forward the Newton Higher Income Fund will achieve both a premium income and an attractive total return in the long run, in line with what we aim to achieve with the rest of our equity income funds.”
In addition, Newton said the Newton Cautious Managed Fund will be merged into the Newton Managed Income Fund, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.
Several smaller funds – including the Newton Discovery, Newton Pan-European, BNY Mellon UK Equity, BNY Mellon Sterling Bond and BNY Mellon Continental European funds – will be closed.
Earlier this year, Newton consolidated its UK equity offering by merging its Newton Income, Newton Growth and Newton UK Equity funds into a single product. It said its move followed a shift by investors away from UK equities and towards global equities, fixed income and absolute return.
Scott Goodsir, head of UK wholesale at BNY Mellon Investment Management, said: “With the onset of the retail distribution review and increased regulatory demands, we will see a more empowered investor as we look to 2013 and beyond.
“We believe that it is those firms who ensure their investment offering is focused on delivering continued outperformance that will strengthen their position in this dynamic market environment.”
