Gartmore awards top staff equity stake

Gartmore has awarded a group of the company’s top staff 3.5% of its equity to encourage them to stay at the business, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

The share award, worth £13.5 million at Friday’s closing price, has been made to a mixture of fund managers and senior management.

The paper added that it is thought Gartmore, led by chief executive Jeff Meyer (pictured), could extend the scheme to more people within the business.

Gartmore, which has been hit by a Financial Services Authority (FSA) inquiry and the resignation of fund manager Guillaume Rambourg, has seen its share price drop 40% since floating in December.

Meanwhile, the board of the Gartmore Growth Opportunities investment trust has served ‘protective’ notice to terminate its investment management agreement with Gartmore after manager Gervais Williams left the fund group.

The board said it had started the 12-month notice period required by its agreement with Gartmore to reduce the costs if it decides to switch to another fund management group.

It added that it will withdraw the notice if it decides to stick with Gartmore.