Marlborough Stirling

The Investment Management Association (IMA) has removed a further two funds from its UK Equity Income sector for undershooting minimum yield requirements over the past three years.

Top performing small-cap manager Giles Hargreave has stepped down from his co-manager role on the £90m Marlborough UK Leading Companies, handing the mandate to Richard Hallett.

Charles MacKinnon, chief investment officer at Thurleigh Investment Managers, has named five funds he is backing as he looks to boost exposure to equities in his portfolios.

As advisers digest last week's revelation that top UK fund manager Richard Buxton is to exit Schroders after more than a decade at the group, attention is now turning to where to invest next.

IT provider Marlborough Stirling has officially changed its name to Vertex Financial Services today, although The Exchange will keep its name and VFS will remain headquartered in Cheltenham.

Most of Marlborough Stirling will eventually be rebranded as Vertex but IFA portal the Exchange will keep its name following the completion today of a takeover by its new parent group United Utilities.

The third Marlborough Stirling mortgage benchmark study has so far attracted 14 lenders to assess the impact of M-Day regulation.

Mike O'Leary, chief executive of Marlborough Stirling, says intermediaries should see no hiving off of The Exchange as a result of today's bid announcement.

United Utilities, formerly known as North West Water, has tabled a £95.3m bid for Marlborough Stirling through its wholly owned subsidiary Vertex Data Science.

Marlborugh Stirling, which has been up for sale since December, may be talking to Unisys about selling its mortgage processing business.