Under the partnership LV= has outsourced just over £8bn in assets and external funds, a transfer that includes its Oeic retail fund range.
There are no proposed immediate changes to the investment objectives or policies of the funds, but the names of the Oeics have changed to Threadneedle.
For example, the LV= UK Growth Fund is now the Threadneedle UK Growth Fund.
A spokesperson for Threadneedle said: "The retail funds have been transferred completely, the Authorised Corporate Director has changed to Threadneedle and we now run those Oeics."
The majority of the money in these Oeics is society money, however, which is under a seven-year partnership.
She said in June, when the money was valued, approximately £560m was in external assets and has moved permanently.
The remaining £7.5bn (approximately) is under the partnership and could be moved again when the term is up as LV= is still an external client.
Multi-manager mandate
Another element of the partnership which deserves scrutiny is how Threadneedle is proposing to run LV= multi-manager proposition, an issue Portfolio Adviser picked up on last week.
Threadneedle announced today Giles Gilbertson would be joining them from today to help run the multi-manager range of funds.
He will join Damian Barry who has been with Threadneedle for three years as product development director and has now been appointed multi-manager fund manager.
Gilbertson most recently worked at IMS and then FundQuest and has extensive experience as a multi-manager fund manager.
Interestingly, ex-LV= multi-managers Paul Kim and Richard Timberlake, who are among the high profile managers not taken across by Threadneedle, were also former FundQuest men and jumped ship in December last year to head up the multi-manager proposition at LV=.
Gilbertson and Barry will now run the full range of managed portfolios, along with the Worldwide Select Fund and Balanced Managed Fund.
New developments
Up until now Threadneedle has had a fettered range of multi-asset funds run by Mark Burgess and Alex Lyle. Burgess joined at the tail end of last year and has been CIO of Threadneedle since the start of this year.
The spokesperson said: "He [Burgess] champions the multi-asset approach and since he started thought we should extend our multi-asset capabilities."
In another new development for Threadneedle, the unfettered funds will be risk-rated using distribution technology.
At the start of 2012 Toby Nangle is also due to start at the firm, after his departure as director of multi-asset at Baring Asset Management.
Threadneedle said this showed it was focused on the expansion of this kind of investment approach, although its spokesperson noted Nangle is not likely to work on the multi-manager side, but will work more closely with Burgess and Lyle.
Staff details
In total Threadneedle has employed 14 former-LV= staff members, with a fixed income analyst the sole investment professional taken over.
Diane Sobin, who joined Threadneedle’s US Equities team on 12 September will manage the US Equity Income Fund.
She replaced Richard Wilson who departed Threadneedle in May and has so far been working on institutional money. This is the first retail fund she manage on behalf of Threadneedle.
Richard Stevens, who joined Threadeedle in June 2010 from Old Mutual AM will take on some of the fixed income range of funds: the UK Fixed Interest Fund, UK Short-Dated Gilt Fund and UK Index Linked Fund.
Meanwhile, Alasdair Ross, with Threadneedle since 2003, is to manage the UK Corporate Bond Fund, UK Short-Dated Corporate Bond Fund and UK Medium & Long-Dated Corporate Bond Fund.
Sarah Williams is appointed manager of the Japan Growth Fund, William Davies of the European ex-UK Growth Fund, Mark Westwood of the UK Growth Fund and Rafael Polatinsky of the Pacific ex-Japan Growth Fund.
The UK Equity Income Fund will be managed by Leigh Harrison & Richard Colwell and Paul Witchells takes over the UK Money Market Fund.
In instances where Threadneedle already has similar funds in place, a process of review will be underway.
It is understood that over the next three to nine months managers will be looking at the portfolios, objectives and mandates of the former-LV= funds and deciding if they want to make any changes, or if the funds should be merged with those they already run.
For example, Harrison and Colwell already run a Threadneedle Equity Income Fund and will likely run their new UK Equity Income Fund in tandem with their current mandate.
The spokesperson said there would likely be overlaps, but added: "Before any decision is made to merge, we would need to seek approval from the shareholders of the Oeics and then we will take a decision."
