Birrell joined Premier in January and will take over from Jennings, who has decided to leave the Guildford-based firm to pursue other opportunities.
Premier said that the change in roles will take place following an orderly handover, while its Global Strategic Growth Fund, co-managed by Jennings, will now be managed solely by Jake Robbins.
Mike O’Shea, chief executive officer at Premier, said: “We are grateful for Mike Jennings’ contribution during his time at Premier and we are pleased to be able to appoint such an experienced and capable CIO as Neil Birrell. I am looking forward to working closely with Neil as we build on our recent successes and continue to grow our business.”
Elsewhere at the asset manager, Premier announced that subject to regulatory and shareholder approval it planned to merge its £8.7m Premier China Enterprise Fund with the £56.2m Premier Global Strategic Growth Fund and the £18.4m Premier Global Alpha Growth Fund.
Premier said the move was aimed at creating a single global equity vehicle with “critical mass”, and that Robbins will run the combined fund, given his experience of managing focused global equity money and exposure to the emerging markets and China.
Commenting on the mergers, O’Shea: “We are committed to building our global equity proposition, as we believe this is one of the exciting areas for our clients in the future. The proposed creation of a new, larger Premier global equity fund is designed to help us ensure we are well placed to deliver the best possible investment value to clients in this area.”
