Liontrust duo quit
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Liontrust revealed the resignations of the leading managers earlier this week, with the pair set to stay until January 2010. This was followed by a statement saying it had terminated all ongoing discussions regarding a possible takeover of the firm.
On December 31 last year, Liontrust's funds under management stood at £3.381bn, with Lang and Pattisson managing unit trusts, offshore funds and segregated accounts totalling £3.076bn.
Hargreaves Lansdown head of research Mark Dampier says the move is a huge surprise and he has now put Lang's first income and first growth fund on hold in the Wealth 150 range.
He says: "They are a key part of the Liontrust regime. The one thing I would say is that they were never owner-managers, meaning they were never completely locked into the firm in terms of the amount of shares they had. The pair now look set to launch something themselves."
Lang joined Liontrust in 1996 as manager of the first income and first growth funds, becoming investment director in 1999. Pattisson joined Liontrust as joint investment director in 1999 and also runs the first large-cap and focus 350 funds.
By close of trade on Tuesday shares in Liontrust had fallen by a third to around 80p after opening at 110p.
Chelsea Financial Services managing director Darius McDermott says: "There is anecdotal evidence that the group is regretting listing the business and maybe they have left on the back of that. What to many in the industry has become 'Langtrust' will be no more. I have doubts of whether new managers can step in and carry on the various funds' distinctive processes." Chelsea has downgraded Liontrust First Growth from a buy to a hold.
A spokesman for Liontrust says: "It has not been decided yet whether we will look externally to replace these mandates but we have been looking to diversify the product range beyond UK and European equities and the search for new managers and products will continue."
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