Ignis, which will be left with a minority stake of 35% in Hexam Capital Partners, set up the business as a joint venture in November 2006 with managers Bryan Collings, Stuart Richards, Marina Akopian and Grant Shotter. The boutique investment house specialises in global emerging markets and runs three retail funds, incuding two which are Dublin-domiciled, with approximately £600m in assets under management.
It is estimated the deal, which was signed today, will take between nine and 14 months to complete, after which Hexam will appoint its own third party providers to give operational and administrational support.
Jonathan Polin, sales and marketing director at Ignis, said both firms planned to ensure the transitional process was as smooth as possible for investors and it is unlikely clients would feel any real change over during the transition period.
Furthermore, Polin said while this was obviously not the intention when the joint venture was launched in 2006, it is sometimes inevitable partners will want to go their own way.
“I very much respect Bryan Collings and his team and can understand why they have chosen to take this route,” said Collings. “However, we still have a significant stake in the business and will not be rushing to replace them. We intend to continue to build on our in-house team of fund managers over the next few months and are happy with our existing emerging market proposition.”
