Further blow for Columbia Threadneedle team as Quilter Investors yanks Europe mandate

Columbia Threadneedle’s European equities team has faced a further blow after Quilter Investors dropped it from a European equities segregated mandate and installed AllianzGI as the manager instead.

The mandate represents £67.6m and comes on top of several high-profile departures from the team. Just over a year ago, Jupiter announced it had nabbed Mark Nichols to replace Alexander Darwall on its European fund and Mark Heslop to launch a European smaller companies fund.

Now Quilter Investors has confirmed it dropped Threadneedle as manager of the Quilter Investors Europe (ex-UK) Equity Growth fund, which is a segregated mandate used in its Wealthselect multi-manager range. Nichols had been a co-manager on the mandate with David Dudding.

Ben Moore was promoted to the mandate when Nichols departed.

Columbia Threadneedle did not wish to comment on the loss of the mandate, which took place last week.

> See also: Jupiter launches European fund as dust settles on Alexander Darwall exit

‘A good win for Allianz’

Rather than turning to Jupiter to manage the segregated mandate, Quilter Investor has picked AllianzGI fund managers Thorsten Winkelmann (pictured) and Marcus Morris-Eyton to run the small pot of money.

Fairview Investing consultant Ben Yearsley described the loss of the mandate as “another negative” for Columbia Threadneedle after the loss of Heslop and Nichols last year. He said while it did not represent much in AUM terms to Columbia Threadneedle, the timing during the coronavirus outbreak was positive for AllianzGI.

“It’s a good win for Allianz, because where else are you getting are you getting fund flows at the moment? People aren’t making big decisions and asset allocation calls.”

The pair are currently managers of the £166m Allianz Continental European fund, which sits in the Investment Association Europe ex-UK sector. Winkelmann took on the fund in 2010 and was joined by Morris-Eyton in 2017 after the departure of star fund manager Matthias Born. In the pan-European space, Winkelmann also €5.7bn Allianz Europe Equity Growth and €660m Europe Equity Growth Select Sicavs.

Allianz Continental Europe fund performance

Source: FE Fundinfo

Jupiter has traditionally not had a reputation for running segregated mandates, although in July 2019 it nabbed the high-profile Omnis Income & Growth fund that had previously been run by Neil Woodford before the implosion of his flagship equity income fund. Quilter Investors had dropped its segregated mandate with Woodford three months earlier.

In a press release, Quilter Investors said AllianzGI offered access to an “alternative and experienced team with a robust process” for the mid and large-cap strategy.

The asset manager enjoyed its best ever quarterly flows for UK-domiciled funds in Q1 2020, despite coronavirus volatility, as Mike Riddell’s Allianz Strategic Bond fund raked in investor money.

Yearsley named Richard Pease of Crux Asset Management, Sam Morse of Fidelity Investments and Miton duo Carlos Moreno and Thomas Brown among his European equity manager picks.