Jupiter

FUND PICKS

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.

Jupiter has promoted Mike Buhl-Nielsen to lead manager on its Europa fund as Stephen Pearson steps back to focus on his deputy chief investment officer responsibilities.

M&G has lost its number one spot at the top of the widely followed Pridham report, after sales at rivals BlackRock and Standard Life surpassed the Prudential-owned asset manager.

Fund group CEOs have blamed the impact of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) for a sharp divergence between UK fund sales and those elsewhere in the world at the start of 2013.

Jupiter said today it intends to use the money raised from the Cofunds sale to pay down debt as it unveiled a near £3bn rise in assets under management.

Investors and backers of Richard Buxton's UK Alpha Plus fund have reacted positively after the group revealed it has poached well known managers from Jupiter and Neptune to replace the outgoing star.

Schroders has poached Jupiter's Philip Matthews and Neptune's Alex Breese to replace Richard Buxton and Errol Francis who are moving to Old Mutual Global Investors.

MULTI-ASSET

Jupiter chief executive Edward Bonham Carter has criticised EU proposals to cap fund manager bonuses, saying the moves could jeopardise industry stability.