Link loses £5bn in assets as Premier Miton brings all ACD activities in house

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19 November 2020

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Link Fund Solutions is losing £4.8bn worth of business as Premier Miton brings all its authorised corporate director activities in-house a year after its merger.

Premier Miton is had been using four providers for its fund operations, including LFS, when the two asset managers merged in November 2019. Eleven former Miton funds had used LFS as their ACD, including the £1.9bn LF Miton European Opportunities and £829.4m US Opportunities funds.

A further two funds, FP Miton Income and MI Cautious Monthly Income, used Fundrock and Maitland respectively as ACDs. Earlier this year, the former merged into the Premier Monthly Income and the latter became the Premier Miton Cautious Monthly Income fund. The ACD for both is now the in-house ACD, Premier Portfolio Managers Limited.

Chief executive Mike O’Shea (pictured) said in a press release, issued on Thursday morning, that using a single in-house ACD would reduce overall fund costs for investors.

Willis Owen head of personal investing Adrian Lowcock said examining ACD arrangements would have required significant due diligence and research from Premier Miton. “It makes sense for a business to have one ACD which will reduce admin and simplify processes.”

A further blow to LFS after Woodford

The loss of the Miton funds is another blow for Link Fund Solutions, which suffered a loss of assets and a hit to its reputation through acting as the ACD for the Woodford Equity Income fund in the lead up to its suspension and subsequent windup.

The ACD, which has assets under management of £86bn, is currently facing litigation in a class action from Woodford Equity Income investors who have accused the ACD of allowing Neil Woodford to invest in inappropriate assets and for failing to address concentration risk in the fund.

Lowcock said LFS’s handling of the Woodford Equity Income fund has raised a lot of questions. “While they are being challenged for their role in the crisis I think Woodford was an exception and Link and indeed other ACDs, will learn from the experience and improve their controls.”

LFS remains the ACD of the former Woodford Income Focus fund, which is now managed by Aberdeen Standard Investments.

LFS parent Link Group is currently the subject of a takeover bid from a consortium of private equity investors.

Premier Miton fund range to be renamed

In further changes at the boutique asset manager, the 37 open-ended funds in the range will also be rebranded under the Premier Miton name.

Most of the rebrand will take effect from 27 November, although the Premier Global Alpha Growth and Global Optimum Income funds will change names on 1 February when they become the Premier Miton Global Sustainable Growth and Global Sustainable Optimum Income funds respectively.

The changes do not impact Premier Miton’s five investment trusts.

Premier Miton fund name changes

Existing fund name	Rebranded fund name
LF Miton Balanced Multi Asset Fund	Premier Miton Balanced Multi Asset Fund
LF Miton Cautious Multi Asset Fund	Premier Miton Cautious Multi Asset Fund
LF Miton Defensive Multi Asset Fund	Premier Miton Defensive Multi Asset Fund
LF Miton European Opportunities Fund	Premier Miton European Opportunities Fund
LF Miton Global Infrastructure Fund	Premier Miton Global Infrastructure Fund
LF Miton UK Multi Cap Income Fund	Premier Miton UK Multi Cap Income Fund
LF Miton UK Smaller Companies Fund	Premier Miton UK Smaller Companies Fund
LF Miton UK Value Opportunities Fund	Premier Miton UK Value Opportunities Fund
LF Miton US Opportunities Fund	Premier Miton US Opportunities Fund
LF Miton US Smaller Companies Fund	Premier Miton US Smaller Companies Fund
LF Miton Worldwide Opportunities Fund	Premier Miton Worldwide Opportunities Fund
Premier Miton Cautious Monthly Income Fund	Premier Miton Cautious Monthly Income Fund (Fund name changed on 31.07.20)
Premier Corporate Bond Monthly Income Fund	Premier Miton Corporate Bond Monthly Income Fund
Premier Defensive Growth Fund	Premier Miton Defensive Growth Fund
Premier Diversified Balanced Growth Fund	Premier Miton Diversified Balanced Growth Fund
Premier Diversified Cautious Growth Fund	Premier Miton Diversified Cautious Growth Fund
Premier Diversified Dynamic Growth Fund	Premier Miton Diversified Dynamic Growth Fund
Premier Diversified Growth Fund	Premier Miton Diversified Growth Fund
Premier Diversified Income Fund	Premier Miton Diversified Income Fund
Premier Ethical Fund	Premier Miton Ethical Fund
Premier Miton Financials Capital Securities Fund	Premier Miton Financials Capital Securities Fund
Premier Global Alpha Growth Fund	Changing to Premier Miton Global Sustainable Growth Fund on 01 February 2021
Premier Global Optimum Income Fund	Changing to Premier Miton Global Sustainable Optimum Income Fund on 01 February 2021
Premier Income Fund	Premier Miton Income Fund
Premier Liberation No. IV Fund	Premier Miton Liberation No. IV Fund
Premier Liberation No. V Fund	Premier Miton Liberation No. V Fund
Premier Liberation No. VI Fund	Premier Miton Liberation No. VI Fund
Premier Liberation No. VII Fund	Premier Miton Liberation No. VII Fund
Premier Managed Index Balanced Fund	Premier Miton Managed Index Balanced Fund
Premier Monthly Income Fund	Premier Miton Monthly Income Fund
Premier Multi-Asset Absolute Return Fund	Premier Miton Multi-Asset Absolute Return Fund
Premier Multi-Asset Conservative Growth Fund	Premier Miton Multi-Asset Conservative Growth Fund
Premier Multi-Asset Distribution Fund	Premier Miton Multi-Asset Distribution Fund
Premier Multi-Asset Global Growth Fund	Premier Miton Multi-Asset Global Growth Fund
Premier Multi-Asset Growth and Income Fund	Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth and Income Fund
Premier Multi-Asset Monthly Income Fund	Premier Miton Multi-Asset Monthly Income Fund
Premier Optimum Income Fund	Premier Miton Optimum Income Fund
Premier Miton Strategic Monthly Income Bond Fund	Premier Miton Strategic Monthly Income Bond Fund
Premier UK Growth Fund	Premier Miton UK Growth Fund
Premier UK Money Market Fund	Premier Miton UK Money Market Fund