The fund will be managed by Brian Cullen, who has worked for four years as the firm’s UK specialist alongside European equity manager Stuart Mitchell. He will be assisted by Small Cap European Fund manager Jamie Carter.
A key differentiator of the fund is its all-cap approach, with Cullen building up knowledge of smaller capitalised UK stocks while rejecting certain megacaps, the group said.
“Similar to the positioning in our broader European strategy, the core of our UK portfolio is in those companies exposed to a domestic recovery. While many domestically oriented stocks have done very well over the past 12 months, we believe the market continues to underestimate the recovery in a number of areas – such as homebuilders and banks,” Cullen commented.
He added: “We are avoiding the large multinationals – such as Unilever, Diageo and SABMiller. While these are great franchises, valuations are not cheap enough to tempt us back given the potential headwinds in some emerging markets.”
