Henderson closes US equity fund

Henderson Global Investors has closed its US Opportunities Fund as part of wider plans to cut costs and rationalise its fund range, the asset management firm has revealed.

In a letter shareholders published earlier this month, Henderson announced it had begun the liquidation process for the $11.8 million fund, which had been run by Brandon Geisler.

The company confirmed to Citywire Global that liquidation of the Luxembourg-domiciled fund had come into effect on November 12 and had now been completed.

Geisler, who runs the fund on mandate from US-based firm Marisco Capital Management, had been lead manager on the Henderson Gartmore US Opportunities fund since October 2011.

This had followed the departure of previous lead manager Cory Gilchrist, who had run the fund from August 2007 when he was drafted in to replace the outgoing Gil Knight.

In the shareholder note, Henderson said the decision to close the fund had been taken by board of directors of the company as part of the current fund rationalisations of the products offered.

At the time of closure the largest holding the fund was Apple (5.1%), followed by positions in medical technology company Biogen Idec (4.2%) and Capital One Financial (3.5%). This is while having the largest sector exposure to consumer discretionary names, which made up 13.7% of the fund.

According to data on the October factsheet for the Henderson Gartmore US Opportunities fund, it had returned 85% in the five years to the end of October 2012. This compares to the S&P 500 Index, which rose 114% over the same period in euro terms.