Skandia drops Aviva Investors from Best Ideas after job cuts

Skandia Investment Group has taken back the £7 million mandate it handed to  Aviva Investors’ manager Julius Lipner, arguing that the asset manager's strategic review could be a source of uncertainty of the Skandia UK Strategic Best Ideas fund.

SIG said the recent review, which will see 160 jobs cut with the majority coming from London, creates uncertainty and could have consequences for the fund.

Lipner’s mandate will be equally redistributed among the remaining managers in the UK Best Ideas fund, with the line-up comprising BlackRockRichard Plackett and Mark Lyttleton, Polar Capital’s Phil Hardy, SVM’s Colin McLean, Artemis’ Tim Steer and Henderson’s Paul Casson.

Each of the managers will run 16.66% of the target asset allocation.

Lee Freeman-Shor, portfolio manager for Skandia Investment Group, said: ‘We have made the decision to remove the mandate from the Skandia UK Strategic Best Ideas Fund due to the uncertainty and unknown consequences, created by Aviva Investors’ announcement that it plans to review active equity management and concentrate on fixed income, real estate and multi asset solutions. 

‘While Julius Lipner has done a good job for the fund, and we wish him all the best for the future, we believe that this decision is in the best interest of our investors.’

Aviva Investors said it is not withdrawing from the UK retail market entirely, after revealing yesterday it would be cutting 12% of its workforce.