Rodrigs, who took up his new role on 1 January 2016, managed the Investec UK Alpha fund for two years prior to joining River and Mercantile Asset Management. Rodrigs has worked closely with Dan Hanbury on R&M’s UK Unconstrained strategy since his appointment as the alternate fund manager in September 2014, the firm said.
Rodrigs will continue to manage both the soft-closed River and Mercantile UK Smaller Companies fund and the River and Mercantile UK Micro Cap Investment Company. The relaunched UK Dynamic Equity fund will continue to be run using the PVT investment strategy, which underpins all three funds.
“The newly renamed River and Mercantile UK Dynamic Equity Fund has demonstrated strong and consistent top quartile outperformance over the last five years,” said Mark Thomas, managing director of wholesale distribution. “With recent additions to the team’s analyst resource, Philip is now well placed to continue to seek alpha for his trio of funds,” he added.
An updated objective which allows the use of derivatives for efficient portfolio management purposes is reflected in the “UK Dynamic” name. The annual management charge has been reduced by 0.25% per year, meaning that the fund’s B class has been reduced from 1% to 0.75% per year.
The all-cap UK Dynamic Equity fund launched in March 2007, and has 59 holdings with a total value of £40.2m, as at 31 December 2015. It’s a UK All Companies fund following the FTSE All-Share benchmark index.
