A BOUTIQUE Scottish investment company is taking a step towards reversing the downsizing of the Glasgow fund management industry by launching its own multi-million pound fund.
Castlebay Investment Partners was established 18 months ago by former Ignis Asset Management fund manager David Ridland and ex-Gerrard and HSBC investment manager David MacNeil.
The duo had met while working at Barclays Wealth but decided to strike out on their own as they wanted more flexibility in ways to manage client money.
Mr Ridland confirmed he will be the lead manager running the new fund and that it will focus on UK equities when it launches next month.
He said: "To our knowledge we will be the only active fund manager in Glasgow.
"We have got everything in place in terms of all the building blocks required for the fund.
"We have got some existing clients which want to participate and some new money as well so we will have a good amount of seed capital at launch."
Mr Ridland suggested around £80 billion had been run out of Glasgow when he was starting his career almost two decades ago.
Although there are still some private equity funds active from the city the traditional fund management side has been greatly eroded over the last 20 years.
A number of fund management operations have moved, merged or been closed in the period with the likes of Scottish Amicable Investment Managers, Murray Johnstone and Gartmore among those disappearing from or leaving the city.
While Ignis still has an operation in Glasgow, its future is uncertain following its £390m takeover by Standard Life earlier in the year.
Mr Ridland said the interest in participating in the Castlebay fund had been strong and he will stick to his principles of long-term investment gains.
He said: "We are speaking with wealth managers not just in Glasgow but nationally and we have had some positive feedback from them about the fund.
"It will be a mix of institutional and private money."
Around 80 per cent of the fund will be invested in UK equities with the remainder held across different asset classes including cash.
Castlebay, which is based on West George Street, is also in advanced talks with one more fund manager to come into the team. Mr Ridland said: "We are looking to expand the team as required.
"We are currently in conversations with people about them coming onto the team to support the investment process."
Mr Ridland confirmed the company is also setting up an advisory panel.
The fund managers will be holding meetings with the panel at least once every six months to look at several areas including market valuations and trends.
He also outlined the reasons why the fund will not consider putting any additional ongoing charges on top of its annual management fee.
He said: "In terms of greater transparency and visibility then the pricing structure is very important.
"We think the industry is going to move that way so we think we are positioning ourselves at the start of the curve."
With the launch of the fund Castlebay will also stop actively trying to take on any major new private client business in the immediate future.
Mr Ridland said: "Obviously we will continue to look after and service our private clients.
"But we don't want to over extend ourselves and try to look after too many people.
"We want to grow the business through the development of the fund."
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