Skandia axes Gartmore's Wallace from Strategic Best Ideas

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has cut an £8m mandate run by Gartmore's Ben Wallace from its £62m UK Strategic Best Ideas fund, pointing to "disappointing" returns.

Wallace, the co-manager of the £360m Gartmore UK Absolute Return fund alongside Luke Newman, is one of eight managers within SIG's long/short fund. The latest addition is Aviva Investors' Julius Lipner, manager of the firm's UK Absolute Return fund. Other managers within the fund include BlackRock's Mark Lyttleton, Henderson's Paul Casson, and Tim Steer of Artemis. Each manager runs £7.75m, comprising 12.5% of the portfolio. SIG says Gartmore's problems at the corporate level since the departure of Roger Guy have no bearing on the move to cut Wallace from the portfolio. Senior port...