Marlborough has appointed Renaissance Investment Management to take over the running of the IFSL Marlborough US Focus fund following the acquisition of previous manager Boston Financial Management.
US investment adviser Renaissance assumed control of the mandate on 2 October after Boston was bought by US financial advice company Captrust in November 2024.
The fund’s new co-managers are Michael Schroer and Andy Eng, who work with analysts Curt Ludwick and Brad Zoltak on a large-cap growth strategy.
The team has a research-focused investment process, combining proprietary quantitative and qualitative analysis. In total the portfolio holds between 50 and 60 companies selected for their strong growth potential, earnings momentum and attractive valuation.
New holdings are weighted at around 2% of the fund’s overall value and the maximum size of any position capped at 4% of the fund’s total value to ensure portfolio diversification.
Richard Goodall, CEO of Marlborough, said: “The team at Renaissance have very much impressed us with their highly disciplined investment process, which has been tried and tested over more than three decades.
“At a time when the 10 largest companies in the S&P 500 account for almost 40% of the total value of the index – the highest level in history – we believe investors will see value in an active strategy specifically designed to counter concentration risk through a disciplined approach to portfolio diversification.”
Michael Schroer, CIO at Renaissance and co-manager of the fund, said: “We’re very excited about this new partnership with Marlborough, who share our unswerving commitment to delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for clients.
He added that the team has identified “highly attractive opportunities” in the US market outside of the popular tech sector.
“In our view, this focus on genuine stock-picking, rather than simply following the herd, is one of the great strengths of our investment strategy,” he said.
“Our investment strategy is rooted in intensive research and disciplined decision-making, and we’re looking forward to putting it to work for fund investors in the UK.”
