Jupiter takes hit as Merian clients pull £1bn

Jupiter Fund Management suffered £1bn in net outflows in Q3, as the firm was hit by investor exists following its acquisition of Merian Global.

Jupiter told shareholders that its total funds under management stood at £55.7bn at the end of September, boosted by the arrival of £16.6bn as a result of the deal to buy Merian in February.

Of the outflows from Merian branded products, £400m came from Merian's "systematic strategy". Jupiter said that approximately £100m could be linked to manager change. Greenwood was among of series of departures earlier this year

Despite the loss, positive market moves across the quarter equated to £800m, which worked to slightly offset the £1bn outflows.

The firm's assets under management (AuM) increased by £16.5bn to £55.7bn, driven predominantly by the acquisition which introduced £16.6bn on 1 July 2020.

In total, Merian AUM fell by around £200m over the quarter to £16.4bn.

Jupiter-branded products meanwhile pulled in net inflows of £56m and market gains of £74m, with investors adding inflows of £900m to the firm's fixed income strategy.

This was mitigated by outflows for the quarter driven by net withdrawals of £300m for the Jupiter European Special Situations fund and related segregated mandate.

The February deal was the first significant acquisition by Jupiter chief executive Andrew Formica after he took the helm in March 2019 and saw Jupiter take on and pay off Merian's debts as part of the buyout.

Speaking at the time, Jupiter chief investment officer Stephen Pearson said: "We believe our newly combined product line-up offers clients an opportunity to access some of the best active funds available, managed by a world class fund management team.

"This acquisition will significantly enhance Jupiter's investment capabilities. Not only have we expanded our fund range to include attractive new propositions such as global systematic equity and liquid alternatives, but we have also been able to add scale to areas where we are seeing increasing demand from investors, in fixed income and emerging market Debt."

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