Old Mutual Global Investors is to merge a government bond fund into a multi-bond fund resulting in the loss of five team members.
The Old Mutual Absolute Return Government Bond Fund will merge into the Old Mutual Strategic Absolute Return Bond Fund on July 27 subject to shareholder agreement.
The firm said the measure would simplify its fund range – but the merger also means the government bond fund co-heads Adam Purzitsky and Paul Shanta, and three further members of the team, will be leaving the business to “pursue other opportunities”.
The funds have the same investment objectives, which include trying to provide positive total returns on a rolling twelve-month basis, and both have a broadly similar investment policy to invest primarily in global government bonds.
However, the funds employ different investment processes to achieve the objective, with the strategic fund investing in a broader investment universe, with lower levels of leverage.
The strategic fund is also cheaper, and investors from the government bond fund will in future pay its fee level.
Huw Davies, currently absolute returns government bond investment director, will join the wider fixed income team as investment director, and Vytaute Maciulskyte, currently an analyst in the team, will become an analyst for the Old Mutual Systematic Positive Skew Fund.
Warren Tonkinson, managing director at Old Mutual GI, said that the firm – which has recently reviewed its absolute return fixed income strategies – had “identified an opportunity to simplify our proposition”.
“We are confident that following this change, our fund range will be well aligned with investor demand,” he said, wishing the departing members of the absolute return government bond team “the best of luck for the future”.
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