Morley forms new UK Specialist and Small Cap team

Morley Fund Management ('Morley') is forming a new UK Specialist and Small Cap team, responsible for high risk/return UK equity funds and UK small cap funds. The five-strong team will manage in excess of Ł800m of funds, predominantly with outperformance targets of +4% pa.

The team will be led by one of Morley's most experienced fund managers, David Lis, who manages the Morley UK Focus and Norwich UK Growth Funds. He will work with equity analysts Ruy Alves and Toby Belsom, who are transferring across from Morley's Equity Research team, and existing small cap fund manager Alex Pedder.

In addition the team will be boosted by the appointment of Robin West as fund manager. Robin joins on 10 May from Oriel Securities. Robin has nine years' experience as a fund manager at INVESCO Asset Management (1995-2003) where he managed the INVESCO Institutional UK Smaller Companies Fund. He was deputy in a team which managed both small cap and emerging UK technology funds. It is intended that Robin will assume responsibility for the Norwich UK Smaller Companies Fund.

The team will focus on identifying emerging growth companies which it believes have the potential to eventually join the FTSE350 Index. Therefore they will concentrate on stock selection within a market capitalisation range of Ł20m - Ł300m. The team will also be responsible for companies with a market cap of up to Ł500m. As a result Morley will alter its performance benchmark for small cap funds to the FTSE All Share Small Cap Index (from the Hoare Govett Small Cap Index).

Commenting on the formation of the team, head of team, David Lis, said: "I'm extremely excited about the formation of this new team at Morley. A core element of equity investment is the life cycle of companies - smaller companies achieving exponential growth to become larger companies. Identifying these companies of the future can make an enormous difference to long term fund performance."

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For further information please contact:
Fiona Baker, Head of Corporate Communications 020 7809 8617
Morley Fund Management 07736 883 832

Notes to Editors
The UK Specialist and Small Cap Team

• David Lis, David joined Morley (as Norwich Union Investment Management) in 1997 and runs Ł500m of funds including the Ł287m Norwich UK Growth Fund and the Ł21m Morley UK Focus Fund. David has gained considerable fund management experience from Windsor Investment Management a company he founded and managed; Morgan Grenfell and J Rothschild Investment Management as a Fund Manager; and NatWest as an Investment Analyst.
• Ruy Alves, Ruy joined CGU Brazil in 1997 as Head of Strategy and Business Development. In 2000 he became a Strategy Consultant with Morley Fund Management and then an Equity Analyst in February 2003. Before joining CGU Ruy worked for KPMG as a Supervising Senior.
• Toby Belsom, Toby joined Morley Fund Management in 2000 as an SRI analyst. He began his career in 1996 as a Consultant with Nortel Environment and Ethics Unit. In the same year he also worked as a Consultant for the BT Environmental Issues Unit. Toby started as a SRI analyst with the NPI Global Care team in 1997 and in 2000, he moved to Henderson Investors' as a Company Analyst for the SRI team.
• Alex Pedder, Alex joined Morley Fund Management in March 2001 as a smaller companies fund manager. Previously, she fulfilled various investment roles including sell-side Pan-European Media Analyst for JP Morgan; Strategy, Economic and Finance Consulting for Arthur Andersen Business Consulting; Pan-European Mergers and Acquisitions research for Banexi (UK) and Biotechnology research for Morgan Grenfell Asset Management.
• Robin West, Robin joins Morley on 10th May from Oriel Securities. Robin has 9 years experience as a fund manager at INVESCO Asset Management (1995-2003) where he managed the INVESCO Institutional UK Smaller Companies Fund. He was deputy in a team which managed both small cap and emerging UK technology funds. Prior to INVESCO Robin was an Audit Assistant Manager with KPMG for 6 years.

Morley Fund Management

• Morley Fund Management ('Morley') is an independently managed, London based, asset management business with over Ł111 billion* under management (as at 31.12.03). It actively manages a diverse range of asset classes and employs in the region of 900 staff worldwide based in London, Singapore and an associate office in Boston**.
• Morley is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Aviva Group and 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 by Norwich Union, and international funds marketed under the Aviva Funds brand.

*Not including mortgage assets

**Morley Fund Management International Limited, an Aviva company

Awards

• Fund Manager of the Year - Property Week Awards 2004
• Best Property Fund Manager - Pensions Management Provider Awards 2003
• Fund Manager of the Year - Pensions Week Awards 2002
• Specialist Manager of the Year - UK Pensions Awards 2002
• Insurance Fund Manager of the Year (awarded to Norwich Union) - Standard and Poor's 2002
• Sustainable and Ethical Investment and Asset Management Award - Liveable City Awards 2002
  
• *Morley Fund Management International Limited, an Aviva company
• Further information about Morley Fund Management can be found at www.morleyfm.com
• Contact us at Morley Fund Management, No. 1 Poultry, London EC2R 8EJ.
• Telephone calls may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes.
• Morley Fund Management is a business name of Morley Fund Management Limited, registered in England No. 1151805. A member of the Norwich Union Marketing Group, members of which are authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Services Authority for life assurance, pensions and investments. Registered Office: No. 1 Poultry, London EC2R 8EJ. A member of the Investment Management Association.
• Morley Fund Management is also a business name of Morley Investment Services Limited and Morley Fund Management International Limited. All are Aviva companies.