Liontrust will close its UK-based Tortoise fund months after the departure of fund managers Matthew Smith and Tom Morris.
Liontrust said it closed the fund due to size, but added that the Irish-domiciled GF Tortoise fund remains open.
Management of the strategy was transferred to James Inglis-Jones and Samantha Gleave, who hold a combined 54 years of experience, following the departure of Smith and Morris. However, the Irish-domiciled fund, which was originally the larger of the two vehicles, has dropped to just £3.2m assets under management as of March 2024, according to FE Fundinfo.
See also: Liontrust suffers £1.7bn of net outflows in Q4 due to ‘negative investor sentiment’
Before the manager switch in May 2023, the Irish-domiciled fund held £712.3m assets under management, which dropped to £216m in June, and £30m in July, according to Morningstar Direct. The UK-domiciled fund held £33.7m AUM in May, and hit £8.3m by January 2024.
As of the end of January 2024, the fund had returned a cumulative 3.4% over three months.
Smith and Morris joined Liontrust as part of the Majedie acquisition in April 2022, and announced their departure in June 2023. In the past five years, the fund has returned 59.53% compared to a sector average of 15.08%, according to data from FE Fundinfo.
