Neptune to merge UK funds following Breese exit to Schroders

Neptune is to merge away its UK Equity fund, run by Scott MacLennan, later this year following the departure of highly rated manager Alex Breese.

Investment Week can reveal the £19m portfolio will merge into the group's £33m UK Special Situations fund, formerly run by Breese (pictured), in November. The merger comes following Breese's move to Schroders, which poached the manager alongside Jupiter's Philip Matthews in an effort to strengthen its UK equity desk following the shock exit of Richard Buxton. Buxton and Schroder UK Alpha Plus co-manager Errol Francis were both snapped up by Old Mutual Global Investors in March, sparking a merry-go-round of fund manager moves. MacLennan has run both the Neptune UK Equity and UK Spec...