Octopus Portfolio Manager (OPM) is to merge with the Volare Fund Range, managed by LGT Vestra, on 14 April.
The move has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and OPM’s authorised corporate director.
Since it was launched 12 years, Octopus said there has been a huge increase in the number of firms offering discretionary management services.
“While we are proud of the returns we have delivered […], we do not believe that OPM is as competitive as other funds available on the market,” it added.
Ongoing charges and fees
The change will see most OPM customers pay more.
Source: Octopus Investments
Holdings with Octopus are in the C shares, while those via a third-party platform are in the B shares.
“While the ongoing charges figure of the Volare funds is higher than the OPM funds,” Octopus added, “They do not attract a discretionary management fee, and includes LGT Vestra’s annual management charge of 0.35%. LGT Vestra charge a 0.25% custody fee.”
It added that the “charges being applied will vary from client to client” and said LGT Vestra would be in contact with financial advisers.
Broadly aligned strategies
Between 14 April and 28 July 2022, Octopus will continue to hold the Volare funds in its custody to give advisers time to complete the necessary LGT Vestra paperwork or transfer assets to another provider/liquidate them.
Octopus said it chose the wealth management firm, which has £21bn ($27.5bn, €25.3bn) AuM, because it was “confident in the quality of their team and investment approach”.
The Volare Fund Range was launched in 2017 and its “volatility bands, asset class, geographical composition and investment objectives” are broadly aligned with the OPM funds, the firm added.
