St. James’s Place (SJP) has announced a series of changes to its Global and UK funds, as part of the continued development of its investment proposition. The changes are designed to enhance diversification and resilience while retaining the distinct investment approaches of both funds.
Global
SJP has appointed five new external fund managers to its Global fund, moving to a diversified multi-manager approach. Acadian, Dalton, Kopernik, MAC Alpha and Phoenix have been selected to manage the fund alongside existing manager Artisan, bringing together a range of investment styles, expertise and approaches.
The fund will also introduce an active systematic investment approach through one of the newly appointed managers, Acadian. Alongside these changes, the range ‘Global Managed’ will be renamed ‘Global’ across the associated Life, Pension and International funds.
By bringing together managers with complementary strengths, the fund is positioned to identify growth opportunities across global equity markets, while reducing reliance on a single manager. This will result in greater diversification across regions and sectors, increasing the range of companies in which the fund invests.
UK
SJP has also made changes to the manager line-up of its UK fund, appointing Dimensional UK to manage both its large-cap and small-cap allocations. In total, the fund’s manager line up has been reduced to four, with Dimensional joining existing managers Baillie Gifford, Blackrock and Redwheel.
The changes are designed to create greater balance across large-cap and small-cap UK equities. This will in turn broaden the fund’s exposure to opportunities across the UK market and strengthen resilience as market conditions evolve.
Commenting on the changes, Justin Onuekwusi, CEO, Investments said: “These changes mark the next step in the evolution of our investment approach at SJP. As a team, we continue to refine our proposition to ensure our funds remain well positioned and diversified as market conditions change.
We’ve made significant progress over the last few years in delivering greater value and cost efficiency for clients. Being cost-effective doesn’t mean defaulting to one way of investing - both active and index investing have an important role to play.
Our multi-manager approach is central to that strategy, bringing together managers with different but complementary investment styles and strengths. We look forward to building on our existing relationships, and welcoming the new managers to the Global and UK funds, drawing on their collective expertise for our clients and Partners.”