US giant T Rowe Price has made its first concerted move into the UK market with the expansion of its nascent Oeic range.
Having launched a trio of onshore funds in late 2016, the firm has now brought across a further five funds from its 36-strong Luxembourg Sicav range and plans to add another three in the coming months.
The latest launches are Oeic versions of T Rowe Price’s US Large Cap Value, US Smaller Companies, Japanese, Global Natural Resources and Global Technology equity funds.
They follow on from the Dynamic Global Bond, US Equity and Continental European Equity products made available last year.
All eight offerings have capped operating and administration expenses of 0.17 per cent, a figure that the fund manager said would drop as assets increased. Ongoing charges range from 0.82 per cent to 1.12 per cent.
The firm also plans to launch the Global Focused Growth Equity fund at the end of this month, with Asian and emerging market equity products following later this year.
John Yule, the company’s head of relationship management, UK and Ireland, said: “We launched our Oeic range to provide ease of access for our UK clients.
“We are committed to building a strong business, and so our first step was to listen to their requirements about asset class, structure and pricing.
“We currently offer eight funds, with three on the horizon, and an operating and administrative expenses charge of 0.17 per cent. This charge is capped and will be reduced as we build scale.
We can add additional funds with relative ease now that we have the structure in place,” Mr Yule (pictured) added.
T Rowe Price, which manages around $862bn (£667bn), has also bulked up its distribution team in a bid to buck the trend and crack the UK market – traditionally a difficult prospect for overseas asset managers.
Stephen McShane and Lee Ryan left Neptune Investment Management to take up roles in the firm’s advisory sales team in March, while Edward Tennant joined from Lombard Odier to focus on London-based discretionary managers.
This followed on from the 2016 hires of head of UK discretionary relationships Simon King from Woodford Investment Management, and head of UK advisory relationships Matt Jenkins, also from Neptune.
Mr Yule said: “All three hires are greatly experienced and will be instrumental in helping us further increase our footprint in these key distribution areas.”
