Franklin Templeton vice president and lead UK equity manager Colin Morton will replace David Docherty on the Omnis UK Equity fund from 11 June.
Omnis describes the near £1bn mandate as a key component of its managed portfolio service (MPS) and parent company Openwork’s Graphene advisory models.
Docherty took over management in December 2016, but Schroders has managed the fund since launch in February 2014.
He has been at Schroders since 2013 when it acquired Cazenove. He runs the Schroder Core UK Equity fund, which has lagged its peers, coming in third quartile over one year and fourth quartile over three and five years.
A Schroders spokesperson said they are disappointed with the decision. However, they said they have an “excellent, long standing” relationship with Omnis and work with them on a number of funds. “We look forward to continuing to work with them in the future,” they said.
Morton will manage the fund along the same lines as the four Franklin Templeton UK equity strategies he helps run, focusing on attractively valued, quality businesses with pricing power and cashflow-generating abilities.
He will draw on the resources of the firm’s UK equities team.
Morton started life as a trainee stock broker for Wise Speke & Co and then joined Rensburg Fund Management, becoming an investment manager in 1991. He joined Franklin Templeton in 2011 when it acquired Rensburg.
The largest fund he co-runs at the firm, the £513m Franklin UK Equity Income fund, has been second quartile over one year and first quartile over three and five years.
“We are thrilled to have been selected to run the Omnis UK Equity Fund for Omnis Investments,” said Morton.
“The fund will be managed as a core fund, drawing on the experience of the whole Franklin UK equity team.”
Omnis currently runs 12 sector-specific funds, including a £352m income and growth fund, run by Neil Woodford, and a £57.8m UK equity income fund run by Royal London Asset Management’s Martin Cholwill.
As at 4 June 2018, the group had over £6bn in AUM.
