Maven Capital Partners, a private equity and alternative asset manager, has completed the acquisition of Fundamental Tracker Investment Management (FTIM) from City of London Group.
The primary business of FTIM is The Munro UK Dividend Fund, a passive tracker OEIC which will be rebranded under the Maven name in due course.
The fund aims to track the returns of the largest shares in the UK stock market, using an innovative dividend forecast model to determine asset allocations. This enables fund weightings to be based on a more fundamental measure of business performance, rather than the price bias used by most index funds, and offers the potential to improve on the typical returns of conventional passive tracker funds.
The acquisition is part of an on-going strategy by Maven to expand its business beyond the sole focus on private equity by growing its wider asset management business, including the establishment of a fund management division specialising in the management of quoted assets.
The fund, which was established in 2007, will continue to be managed by Rob Davies who has joined Maven as part of the acquisition.
Bill Nixon (pictured), managing partner at Maven, says: “At Maven we have been actively building an alternative asset management business since our MBO from Aberdeen Asset Management in 2009. Whilst our core focus continues to be on the provision of private equity and mezzanine funding solutions, we have also expanded into other areas of asset management in order to broaden our product range.
“We are very pleased to have completed the acquisition of FTIM which will form part of an enlarged fund management offering within Maven. This acquisition will enable us to offer investors access to a tracker fund with a clear edge over a typical passive fund. We welcome Rob Davis and look forward to helping him develop the business under Maven ownership.”
