UK's Liontrust poaches top GAM executives after heavy outflows

(Reuters) -UK's Liontrust named two former GAM executives to lead its growth equities and distribution businesses on Wednesday after the specialist fund manager reported outflows had more than doubled year-on-year.

The appointments follow a failed bid by Liontrust in August for Switzerland's GAM caused by a lack of shareholder support.

Mark Hawtin will lead the Global Growth Equity team from May and Jeremy Roberts will become Global Distribution (ex-UK) head starting in April, Liontrust said.

The London-based company reported outflows of 1.7 billion pounds ($2.15 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with 1.6 billion pounds in the previous quarter and 632 million pounds in the same period last year.

Liontrust's assets under management and advice (AuMA) stood at 27.2 billion pounds as of Jan. 12, down from 27.8 billion pounds at the end of December.

Shares in Liontrust were down 4.5% to 552.5 pence by 0854 GMT.

"Among the drivers of the net outflows in the last quarter... were the ongoing negative sentiment among investors and the current challenges facing active asset managers," CEO John Ions said in a statement.

"These challenges include the fact active managers have never been confronted by such a competitive environment to attract and retain assets as is the case now, both from within and outside the sector."

Concerns of economic slowdown have weighed on global financial markets, while the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza coupled with uncertainty over interest rates have further sapped investor appetite.

"Flows remain weak ... but recovery potential is significant," Peel Hunt analysts said in a note.

Separately, rival fund manager Rathbones said on Wednesday it expected economic uncertainties to persist in 2024, after reporting flat net flows in funds.

($1 = 0.7920 pounds)

(Reporting by Eva Mathews and Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Janane Venkatraman and Barbara Lewis)