Pimco has been appointed by St James's Place to manage its rebranded multi-asset fund, replacing a team from Jupiter Asset management which had run the mandate since launch in 2007.
The fund will now be run by the team responsible for the Pimco Global Multi-Asset strategy, which has only been available within the Pimco Select range since October last year.
Previously Jupiter's Ian McVeigh, John Hamilton, Alex Darwall and Elena Shaftan managed the mandate which sat within the SJP Managed Equity & Bond strategy.
But as part of a decision to rebrand and separate out the multi-asset element, Pimco will come on board instead.
Chris Ralph, chief investment officer at SJP, said: "At St. James’s Place we have no ‘in house’ fund managers, preferring instead to seek out the very best independent managers from around the world. Our appointment of PIMCO, following an extensive global review of investment managers, is a further important addition to our client offering. We look forward to working closely with their team in the years ahead."
The strategy is managed by Pimco's chief executive and co-chief investment officer, Mohamed El-Erian, alongside managing directors Curtis Mewbourne and Vineer Bhansali.
Mewbourne said: "Traditional asset allocation approaches are being challenged in an economic climate marred with growing uncertainty and rising volatility. We believe that there is a growing need for a dynamic, agile asset allocation solution that addresses investors’ concerns around greater asset class correlation, low returns and greater downside risk in current markets. Our multi-asset approach offers a compelling asset allocation alternative to investors."
Recently Jupiter beefed up its own multi-asset offering with the launch of an onshore Strategic Reserve Fund for Miles Geldard and Lee Manzi.