Liontrust

Liontrust Asset Management is to acquire North Investment Partners, appointing founder John Husselbee, as well as former LV = manager Paul Kim, to run its first multi-asset proposition.

Liontrust Asset Management has recorded its 13th consecutive quarter of net inflows, helping push assets under management to £3.4bn.

Liontrust's Gary West has retired from fund management after 26 years in the industry, Investment Week can reveal.

Walker Crips Group has made £6.6m after crystallising convertible loan stock issued to it as part of Liontrust's 2012 acquisition of its asset management arm.

Liontrust chief executive John Ions has said the group "does not see the need" to offer multiple share classes to different distributors in order to stay competitive.

Fund group CEOs have blamed the impact of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) for a sharp divergence between UK fund sales and those elsewhere in the world at the start of 2013.

Liontrust doubled its assets under management to £3bn in the last 12 months as the takeover of Walker Crips and a sharp rise in inflows boosted the business.

As advisers digest last week's revelation that top UK fund manager Richard Buxton is to exit Schroders after more than a decade at the group, attention is now turning to where to invest next.

HOT MONEY

The state of banks' financial health remains "obscure" and they are not worth investing clients' savings in, fund manager Liontrust has said.