Following unit holder and regulatory approval, the move has been made to generate economies of scale for existing investors or, as Nick Hodgson, partner, head of marketing & sales, called it, a “tidying-up exercise of our pooled funds range”.
Boucher said: “As a result of this consolidation, we now have one long-only UK equity growth fund, of a decent size, with potential to grow. The UK Equity Growth Trust is currently positioned to take advantage of the recovery in UK GDP.
“It is overweight in house builders and other housing-related stocks as well as other sectors that should benefit from growing consumer confidence. It is mainly invested in large-caps, but currently has around 30% in mid-caps and 5% in small-caps. The fund holds approximately 60 stocks.”
This is the latest in a number of high profile UK equity fund mergers, including Neptune’s decision to merge its UK Equity Fund into UK Special Situations Fund, following the departure of Alex Breese. BlackRock has also merged UK Dynamic with UK Fund, while GLG has merged its UK Growth Fund into UK Select Fund.
Smith & Williamson also confirmed that its North American and European Growth funds, and its Multi-Manager Global Investment and Endurance Balanced portfolios, have been removed from the Skandia Platform.
