Aegon's Ryan: M&A action will propel equity returns in 2010

Aegon's Audrey Ryan believes an increase in M&A activity will drive UK equity returns in 2010.

Ryan, who manages the £44.7m UK Opportunities fund, says mergers and acquisitions will become increasingly common this year as large corporates have improved access to the debt market. With growth hard to come by and confidence increasing among management, acquisitions will be a focus for driving returns, she adds. Ryan favours corporate over consumer spend going forward and expects discretionary business spend on capital equipment, recruitment and business-to-business media to recover with the profit cycle. As a result she has recently added B2B publisher Informa to the portfolio....