Fundsmith – letter to investors

Terry Smith, manager of the Fundsmith Equity fund, has written an unexpected letter to shareholders defending the fund from recent negative headlines.

In the letter, Smith highlights articles which focused on the outflows from the fund amid the much-anticipated rotation from growth to value investing. He uses the letter to reassure shareholders and highlights the recent and historic strong performance of the fund when compared against various benchmarks.

Invesco duo to retire at the end of the year

Invesco have announced that after 26 years of working together, Paul Causer and Paul Read will retire from their roles as Co-Heads of the Henley Fixed Interest team at the end of 2021, handing over responsibility to Michael Matthews and Thomas Moore.

Michael and Thomas will continue to work closely with Paul and Paul for the rest of the year, ensuring a smooth hand over and will assume the Co-Head roles from 1 January 2022.

Fund merger – Liontrust European Opportunities

Liontrust have announced that they plan to merge the Liontrust European Opportunities into the Liontrust European Growth fund. The merger is anticipated to take place on 25^th June 2021.

Fund Closure – Aviva Investors UK Property Feeder Fund

Following the suspension of trading for the Aviva Investors UK Property Feeder Fund, Aviva Investors Fund Services Limited (‘Aviva’) have taken the decision to close the Fund.

Jupiter rebranding and Merian funds name change

Following Jupiter’s acquisition Merian Global Investors last year a new brand has been launched today along with a number of changes to fund names.

With effect from today (15^th February 2021) the names of all but a very small number of Merian-branded funds will change. In the majority of cases, the prefix “Merian” will simply become “Jupiter,” with the rest of the name remaining as it was previously (for example, the Merian UK Mid Cap Fund will be renamed as the Jupiter UK Mid Cap Fund).