Crux Asset Management has hired long standing UK equity fund manager Richard Penny from Legal and General to launch a new fund.
Proud Yorkshireman Mr Penny has run the £186m Legal and General Alpha Trust since 2005. It is among the top 25 per cent of funds in the IA UK All Companies sector over the past three and five years.
He has also run the £285m Legal and General UK Special Situations fund since 2014.
Mr Penny previously worked at M&G.
He is to run a new product at Crux, details of which are to be announced in due course.
Crux Asset Management was founded in 2014, it is owned by its employees including Richard Pease, a European equity manager formerly of Henderson Global Investors and New Star.
Mr Pease was able to start Crux partly because a condition of his contract at Henderson Global Investors stated that if he were to launch a new fund while employed there, he could, after a period, take the fund with him to a new business.
Mr Pease runs the £1.9bn Crux European Special Situations fund, which he ran at Henderson, and the £175m Crux European fund.
Crux acquired Oriel Asset Management in January 2017, as part of that deal it acquired a UK fund.
Alistair Reid, chief executive of Crux Asset Management said: ““We are very pleased to bring an investor of Richard’s calibre to the team. During his long tenure at Legal & General Investment Management, Richard has displayed exemplary skill as a fund manager and his expertise in managing mid and small cap UK equities will complement and strengthen our investment proposition.
"We believe Richard will contribute greatly to the collaborative culture at CRUX and we look forward to welcoming him to the company.”
Ben Yearsley, director at Shore Financial Planning, said the hire made sense for Crux as it allowed them to diversify away from a reliance on the funds run by Mr Pease.
Anton Eser, chief investment officer at Legal and General Investment Management said Mr Penney will hand over responsibility for the UK Alpha Trust to Rod Oscroft, co-head of the Active Equity team and manager of the UK Smaller Companies Trust.
Responsibility for the UK Special Situations Trust will pass to Gavin Launder, manager of the L&G Growth Trust, as interim manager while the company secures a permanent replacement.
"Rod and Gavin will ensure the funds continue to adhere to their robust and rigorous process,” LGIM said.
David.Thorpe@ft.com
