Merian UK Equity and Merian UK Alpha - fund merger
Dominic Rowles | Wed 29 May 2019
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Merian has announced plans to merge its UK Equity Fund into the UK Alpha Fund.
The change is subject to shareholder approval. In the event of a successful vote, the merger is expected to take place on 28 June 2019.
Why are the funds being merged?
Richard Buxton's managed the Merian UK Alpha Fund since December 2009 and took on the Merian UK Equity Fund following the departure of Simon Murphy at the end of 2018.
Both funds aim to grow your money by investing in UK companies that have been overlooked and underappreciated by other investors. They both tend to invest in relatively few companies, meaning each investment has a bigger impact on the fund's performance and increases risk. The funds can invest in companies of any size – including higher-risk smaller ones. The similarities between the two mean Merian believes it makes sense to merge the funds into a single portfolio.
Our view
We think merging the two funds makes sense given that they're run in such a similar way.
Buxton is a talented fund manager with more than three decades' worth of experience investing in the UK. He's also got the backing of a skilled, well-resourced team.
The Merian UK Alpha fund previously featured on the Wealth 150 list of our favourite funds, but didn’t make it into the condensed Wealth 50 list. The manager's delivered good performance over his fund management career but returns have been volatile at times. Past performance shouldn’t be seen as a guide to the future though.
Overall we feel there are other UK fund managers with the potential to deliver greater returns over the long term. And their funds are available at lower cost.
| Annual percentage growth | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 14 -
Apr 15 |
Apr 15 -
Apr 16 |
Apr 16 -
Apr 17 |
Apr 17 -
Apr 18 |
Apr 18 -
Apr 19 |
|
| Merian UK Alpha | 8.5% | -10.5% | 20.7% | 9.1% | 1.4% |
| Merian UK Equity | 8.8% | -5.1% | 17.4% | 4.8% | -4.6% |
| FTSE All-Share | 7.5% | -5.7% | 20.1% | 8.2% | 2.6% |
Past performance is not a guide to the future. Source: Lipper IM to 30/04/2019
Merian UK Alpha Key Investor Information
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