Morley Fund Management today announced that it had further boosted its UK equities team with the appointment of Mervyn Douglas to a newly created fund manager position.
- Mervyn Douglas returns to newly created high alpha position
Morley Fund Management today announced that it had further boosted its UK equities team with the appointment of Mervyn Douglas to a newly created fund manager position. Mervyn rejoins Morley from Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) and will focus on running retail and institutional high alpha portfolios. Mervyn will commence his new role on 8 May and will report to head of the UK specialist equities team, David Lis.
The team has also recently been strengthened by the appointment of Chris Murphy to a new fund manager role and the internal promotion of fund manager Dan Roberts to manage the UK Equity Income portfolios.
Tim Thomas, head of equities, said: “We’re delighted that Mervyn has chosen to return to Morley to manage a number of our high alpha portfolios.
“It is further evidence of our intentions in the high alpha space and shows that Morley is offering attractive opportunities to high quality managers in a competitive environment. Mervyn’s appointment also demonstrates the continuing delivery of incremental improvements across our Equity investment operations.
“With around Ł27 billion in funds under management in UK equities, we need to be able to offer a strong range of credible higher alpha products as well as traditional core products. Therefore, we are continuing to expand Morley’s UK equity team and anticipate making further announcements in the coming weeks,” he said.
Mervyn Douglas joins Morley from LGIM where he has been working as a fund manager since early 2005. He previously worked at Morley from November 2002 and was lead manager on the Norwich UK Equity Fund. Prior to Morley, Mervyn was a UK equities fund manager at Schroder Investment Management where he managed a range of segregated pension funds.
Mervyn has managed the LGIM Growth Trust Fund which delivered first decile performance in 2005*. At Morley he will be co-manager of the Norwich UK Focus Fund with David Lis and will also work on a high alpha fund in Morley’s institutional range.
Chris Murphy joins from Axa Framlington where he has been working as a fund manager since 1993, most recently responsible for running growth mandated portfolios for institutional and retail clients. Chris has managed the Framlington UK Growth Fund which delivered first quartile performance in 2005*. He joins the firm in early June to run the Norwich UK Equity Fund. Chris previously worked as a utilities analyst at James Capel (1990-92) and at Shearson Lehman (1988-90).
Chris and Mervyn will both report to David Lis.
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*Source, S&P's Micropal, % change, offer to offer basis, GBP. Past performance is not a guide to the future.
For further information please contact:
Strahan Wallis 020 7809 8618
Corporate Communications 079 100 444 24
Morley Fund Management
Notes to editors:
Morley Fund Management
Morley Fund Management Limited is the UK-based asset management business of Aviva plc. Firms within the Morley group of companies manage Ł156bn from offices around the world as at 28 February 2006.
Morley manages both institutional and retail funds under the Morley brand. It also acts as investment manager for a range of retail investment funds, marketed in the UK under the Norwich Union brand, and international funds marketed under the Aviva Funds brand.
Awards
- Property Fund Manager of the Year, Property Week Awards 2006
- SRI Provider of the Year, Global Pensions 2006
- Central European Property Awards 2005 - Outstanding Company of the Year & Investor of the Year
- UK Pensions Awards 2005 – Property Manager of the Year
- Property Week Awards 2004 – Best Property Fund Manager
- Pensions Management Provider Awards 2003 – Best Property Fund Manager
- Fund Manager of the Year - Pensions Week Awards 2002
- Specialist Manager of the Year - UK Pensions Awards 2002
Further information about Morley Fund Management can be found at www.morleyfm.com.