OMGI’s October acquisition from Ignis Ian Ormiston is the manager. It is a sub-fund of the Dublin domiciled umbrella fund Old Mutual Global Investors Series Plc.
The portfolio will hold between 40 and 55 stocks, each with an equal weighting in the portfolio. The fund will focus on companies with less than a €1bn market cap.
OMGI said the team is targeting ‘the most inefficient part of the market in order to find cheap growth opportunities.’ Focusing on companies with high and consistent profitability whilst avoiding illiquid stocks and turn-around companies will ‘reduce inherent risks that are sometimes associated with the small cap market’, the firm claims.
“The European small cap market is a diverse universe offering great opportunities for investors,” Ormiston said. “As an under-researched sector, it is naturally inefficient and so by focusing on high quality, true small cap companies, with a good level of liquidity we aim to create a portfolio that can add real value to investors.”
“As Ian has an excellent investment track record from investing in UK and European markets for over 20 years, including 16 years specialising in investing the European smaller companies, we believe that there is strong demand for this product from our global client base,” said head of UK equities Richard Buxton.