Asset management boutique Argonaut Capital Partners has broken with Ignis Asset Management, the joint-venture partner that launched the firm in 2005, and poached three sales staff from
Neptune Investment Management to form its own marketing team.
The marketing team will be led by John Lester, who was formerly head of strategic partnerships at Neptune.
Barry Norris, co-founder and chief investment officer at Argonaut, said the value of the joint venture structure diminished as the firm grew, and it made sense to bring functions such as marketing in-house.
He added that Ignis’ decision not to launch any more joint-venture boutiques indicated Ignis no longer viewed its boutique partnerships as part of its core business.
Argonaut has a European alpha, European absolute return and two European income funds that are run by Norris and Argonaut co-founder, Olly Russ.
“Olly and I managed the funds, and Ignis did everything else, including sales and marketing,” said Norris, explaining the structure of the Ignis joint venture.
He said it was important for Argonaut to handle more of its functions itself in order to grow.
“I can’t think of any successful fund management companies who outsource distribution to a third party,” said Norris.
©2012 funds europe
