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deal, announced in late July and expected to close at
the start of October, will see the founder of Neptune,
Robin Geffen, along with the rest of the Neptune in-
vestment team, join Liontrust and continue to manage
their respective funds, including its flagship Russia
fund.
It will also further broaden the firm’s reach, bringing
emerging markets into its portfolio for the first time.
“We haven’t really had emerging markets during my
time here, so having that offering
is really good for us,” opines
McLoughlin. “There are China
funds in there as well. We trade
Asia because we are a fully
global trading desk and already
run Asian Income funds, but
we’ve not had specific China
funds before, so that adds
another string to our bow
alongside our new Central and
Eastern European funds.”
All of which feeds into the
mindset that McLoughlin so
highly prizes: A new project to
dive into, something new to sink
the teeth into and to make
the most of the new op-
portunities available.
S T O R Y
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M C L O U G H L I N ]
To do so in the modern trading
environment requires a balance of
this attitude and the right infra-
structure in place.
It's perhaps unsurprising then
to find that Liontrust are active
fund managers. While there has
been a significant shift away from
active towards passive trading over
the last decade or so, McLoughlin
says that the industry may now
be reaching a tipping point where
active once again becomes a much
more important strategy.
“I think we’re at that point
now where investors realise that
markets don’t go up forever, that
they don’t go up in a straight line,”
he explains. “I think we could be
at that inflection point where in-
vestors might start becoming more
discerning and switching some
— not all because cost is always a
factor — into active again.
“If you have been in a passive
fund for the last ten years you will
have been happy; the market
has gone in a straight line
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