european equities

Investec's Ken Hsia is taking over management of its onshore and offshore European equity funds as part of a reshuffle of responsibilities at the group.

John Botham, head of European equities and manager of the £152m Aviva Investors European Equity fund, is leaving the company after his role was made redundant.

Chris Rice, manager of the £823m Cazenove European fund, is adding risk to his portfolios due to bombed out valuations and the European Central Bank's implementation of "one of the biggest bailouts in history".

Cazenove Capital has confirmed it is launching its European Income fund, run by star manager Chris Rice, in May this year.

Martin Currie has launched a European Equity Income fund for Ross Watson after overhauling its existing European fund.

BlackRock's Nigel Bolton has revised down his earnings outlook for European corporates this year, although he is more upbeat than the consensus on the region's prospects.

Skandia's portfolio manager Lee Freeman-Shor has swapped Barings' James Buckley for former favourite Dirk Enderlein on the Skandia European Best Ideas fund.

The European equity fund market has nearly halved in size since 2007, slimming down to €314bn in assets under management at the end of September 2011, according to a Fitch report.

Cazenove is planning to launch a European equity income fund for head of pan-European equities Chris Rice next year, as well as expand its bond fund range with a new portfolio for Peter Harvey.

Neil Wilkinson has joined Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) as manager of the £514m Royal London European Growth fund.