Ignis posts £1.6 billion inflow in year of 'significant change’

Ignis Asset Management attracted £1.6 billion in net inflows 2012 in what it describes to be a year of transition.

Last year the firm closed the door on its joint boutique ventures with the likes of Argonaut Capital Partners. The restructuring costs involved to do this, along with the discontinuation of its life company administration services, resulted in a fall in profit from £46 million in the previous year to £43 million in 2012.

This was offset by strong growth in third party assets on the back of decent investment performance, with the 79% of the firm’s assets under management outperforming their respective benchmarks and peer groups over the year, according to figures sourced from Lipper.

Within this its liquidity, absolute return and real estate strategies were the most popular sellers in 2012.   

The firm was also boosted by the win of a range of mandates from Guardian Assurance Limited, which saw £3.1 billion in assets transferred to Ignis in the final quarter of the year, with another £1.6 billion scheduled to be released in 2013.

Ignis also made a number of hires over the course of the year as part of its diversification strategy.

These included the hire of Graham Ashby as UK equity head, Ingrid Neitsch as head of credit strategies and Lissa Juntunen as head of UK institutional. It also poached Scottish Widows Investment Partnership’s chief financial officer Grant Hotson to run its finances.

Ignis believes the changes will deliver long term benefits for Ignis’ core business, while ensuring great focus on investment performance and customer service.

Ignis chief executive Chris Samuel (pictured) told the stockmarket: ‘Ignis has made considerable progress against its stated objectives in what was a year of significant change.

'The discontinuation of life company administration, the restructuring of Ignis’ former joint ventures and additional investment in people, infrastructure and technology has laid a solid platform upon which to facilitate future growth in each of the markets in which we operate.'

He added: ‘We continue to invest in the business and have a busy year ahead as we continue to develop our third party franchise. With further absolute return fund launches planned in the summer and the build out of our institutional business, the company is well placed to capitalise on its achievements in 2012.’