Jupiter has finalised plans to merge the Jupiter Undervalued Assets Fund into the Jupiter UK Growth Fund, following confirmation of unitholder approval at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Friday 26 June. The merger will take place on Friday 3 July.
Launched in 1988, the Jupiter UK Growth Fund has delivered top decile performance over 1, 3, 5 and 10 years against the IA UK All Companies sector*. It has assets under management of GBP1.566 billion. Following the merger, the Fund will continue to be run by manager Steve Davies, who assumed the role of sole manager in May this year. Steve began working on the Fund in 2007, when he joined Jupiter, and had been co-manager since early 2013. Steve has also managed the Jupiter Undervalued Assets Fund since January 2012. Since launch in May 2000, the Jupiter Undervalued Assets Fund has returned 245.8 per cent, versus a benchmark return of 110.6 per cent.
There will be no change in terms of the investment style and process which has been the basis for delivering such strong performance, although past performance is no guide to future performance. The Jupiter UK Growth Fund will continue to invest predominantly in UK equities, with some limited international exposure. The fund manager can invest across the full range of market capitalisation, with a longstanding bias towards large cap stocks. The investment approach is bottom up and focuses on opportunities in ‘recovery’ stocks (companies deemed un-investible by the market) and ‘growth’ stocks (those companies which can generate above-average rates of growth over an extended time period). Based on existing figures, following the merger the Fund’s assets under management will increase to GBP1.701 billion.
Stephen Pearson, head of investments at Jupiter Asset Management, says: “At Jupiter we are continually reviewing our product range with the aim of delivering the best possible outcome for our clients. Following Steve’s appointment as sole manager of the Jupiter UK Growth Fund earlier this year, we see this move as a natural step which will streamline our range of UK equity funds and simplify our offering to customers.”
