St James’s Place has appointed six new small-cap managers to run its £1.9bn Global Smaller Companies fund alongside incumbent Northern Trust Asset Management. It has chosen EdgePoint, Select, MAC Alpha, Kabouter, LSV and Kopernik.
St James’s Place is switching to a multi-manager model with a diverse set of active managers to make its small-cap fund more adept at navigating market cycles.
Joe Wiggins, investment research director, said: “The [new] managers have been selected to provide a diverse range of complementary investment styles, giving clients in the fund a diverse exposure to the small-cap universe.”
Northern Trust Asset Management will continue to run a diversified “quality minus junk” systematic strategy, which provides low-cost exposure to small-cap beta and should enhance the overall fund’s liquidity and resilience.
The other six managers all invest globally or internationally apart from Select, which is a US small-cap specialist with a quality-growth focus.
Kabouter also has a quality-growth style and runs concentrated, high conviction portfolios.
MAC Alpha is a value manager, while LSV runs a systematic value strategy and invests in micro-caps. EdgePoint has an intrinsic value focus but hunts higher up the market cap spectrum in the ‘smid’-cap space.
Kopernik has a wider remit still and runs a global all-cap strategy.
SJP upgraded its view on global small-caps to positive from neutral in December and increased allocations to the asset class across its Polaris range and model portfolios.
Wiggins said: “Small-caps across regions are the cheapest they have been relative to large-caps in recent history, providing an attractive entry point for investors. A modest overweight to global small-cap equities, particularly within a well-constructed, actively managed multi-manager approach, is a compelling allocation for investors looking to capitalise on these long-term opportunities.”