"Gartmore has a real presence in Europe, so I think this will be a big area of consolidation for Henderson," he said. "The European Selected Opportunities fund has a very good track record, and will be a decent addition to the Henderson range."
John Bennett's Gartmore European Selected Opportunities, previously managed by Roger Guy, is one of the most high-profile funds acquired by Henderson in the merger.
It has £1.6bn assets under management (AUM) and has returned 84 per cent in the last 10 years, outperforming its IMA Europe ex UK sector by 27 per cent.
Performance of fund vs sector over 10-yrs
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Trustnet Alpha Manager Richard Pease’s £360.7m European Special Situations is similar to Bennett’s fund, but was only launched in October 2009.
According to Financial Express data, it has returned 35.34 per cent since inception. Gartmore European Selected Opportunities has returned 16 per cent in this time, with slightly more volatility than Pease’s fund.
Lowcock also thinks there could be merger activity between Henderson and Gartmore's corporate bond and multi-manager funds.
"Henderson is very strong in the corporate bond sector, so I’d anticipate its funds to take over the assets of Gartmore, which has always been weaker in this area," he said.
"There is the biggest overlap between the multi-manager funds, so I’d imagine the two houses will work together and consolidate their strengths here as well."
There are four multi-manager funds under the Gartmore banner at present – Gartmore MultiManager Active, Balanced, Cautious and Absolute Return.
Henderson’s MultiManager range, which includes one fund in the IMA Active Managed sector and two in the IMA Balanced and Cautious Managed sectors, has more than £1.5bn AUM.
Bill McQuaker’s £427.8m Henderson MultiManager Active fund is expected to take over the assets of its Gartmore equivalent, which has only £6.2m AUM, and speculation is rife that the £148m Henderson MultiManager Distribution fund will absorb the £70.3m Gartmore MultiManager Cautious fund.
Thames River multi-manager Gary Potter believes the takeover is a positive move for both investment houses, but says fund merges could affect his position in certain areas.
"We hold Ben Wallace’s Gartmore UK Absolute Return fund and John Pattullo’s Henderson Strategic Bond fund. We are happy retaining these funds at the moment, but will be keeping an eye on M&A activity – the quantity of AUM and any changing of strategy is very important to our selection process," he said.