Penny, one of LGIM’s top managers, led the L&G Alpha Trust from 2005 and the UK Special Situations Trust from 2014. He was also a senior fund manager in the high alpha team. Prior to joining LGIM, he held roles at M&G and Scottish Amicable.
The running of his two LGIM funds will pass to Rod Oscroft, who will lead the UK Alpha Trust, with the Special Situations Trust handed to Gavin Launder to run while a replacement manager is recruited, LGIM confirmed.
Crux said it was pleased to bring on board an investor of Richard’s calibre.
Chief executive Alistair Reid said: “During his long tenure at LGIM, Richard has displayed exemplary skill as a fund manager and his expertise in managing mid and small cap UK equities will complement and strengthen our investment proposition.
“We believe Richard will contribute greatly to the collaborative culture at Crux and we look forward to welcoming him to the company.”
Founded in 2014, Crux’s flagship fund is the European Special Situations fund run by Richard Pease and James Milne with £2bn AUM.
LGIM funds lose elite status
Darius McDermott, managing director of FundCalibre, said the loss of Penny meant both the L&G UK Alpha and L&G UK Special Situations funds would lose the agency’s rating as ‘elite’, adding that LGIM’s loss was very much Crux’s gain.
“The appointment of Richard Penny is a very positive outcome for Crux. Given his expertise in managing UK equities and AIM-listed equities, I would expect him to fit nicely into the Crux team and possibly have a new fund launched especially for him, with a similar mandate to those he ran at L&G,” McDermott added.
However, LGIM insisted the active equity team of which Penny was an integral part was “well able to absorb this change”.
Anton Eser, chief investment officer at LGIM, said: “Richard has been a highly valued member of the active equity team since he joined us in 2003 and he has managed his funds skilfully, including the UK Alpha Trust since its inception in 2005 and the UK Special Situations Trust since 2014. We offer him our best wishes for the future.
“Richard will continue to work with LGIM in the short term to manage a seamless handover of his funds to the active equity team. The team has always worked together to share research and ideas for portfolio construction, so it is well able to absorb this change.”
