Dundee-based Alliance Trust has announced the closure of three equity funds as part of a major restructure that will see around 10 investment jobs lost.
The reshaping ordered by chief executive Katherine Garrett-Cox will also see the main trust’s four regional equity teams focusing on Europe, Asia, the UK and North America brought together as one global portfolio.
Under the new structure Ilario Di Bon will become the trust’s new head of equities and he will report directly to Ms Garrett-Cox.
The job losses will come from the 30-strong investment team which currently performs a dual role for the main trust and wholly-owned subsidiary Alliance Trust Investments (ATI).
Three of ATI’s seven funds the UK, Asia-Pacific and Japan focused equity income funds, which collectively manage more than £120m will be closed as a result of the changes, assuming Financial Service Authority approvals are forthcoming.
The ATI business, which was only set up in 2009, made a £4.8m loss last year and shareholders were told at the trust’s general meeting in April that efforts were being made to accelerate the business to profitability.
The AGM also saw AT fend off a challenge by Isle of Man-based rebel shareholder Laxey Partners that would have forced the trust into outsourcing its investment management function in a bid to address financial performance and the current level of the discount to net asset value.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange on Thursday the trust said the restructuring is in line with a strategy outlined by Ms Garrett-Cox who was paid more than £1m last year in 2008 to concentrate on core activities and would ”transform” the way in which it manages money.
The FTSE-250 listed trust is one of Britain’s largest generalist investment vehicles with £2.8bn under its management at December 31 last year.
Ms Garrett-Cox said: ”Today’s announcement will move Alliance Trust towards a more focused and efficient investment structure. We believe this will be better aligned with our investment objectives and will allow us to focus on our area of expertise investing on a truly unconstrained basis with high conviction.
”I am delighted that in Ilario Di Bon we have an individual with the right skills and expertise to lead our investment in global equities.
”This new structure will allow us to maintain our commitment to our shareholders to deliver capital growth and a rising dividend from a diversified portfolio of global equities and fixed income investments.”
The announcement had minimal impact on the trust’s shares. They closed down 0.08% at 359.4p.