Old Mutual private client arm to be called Gerrard

Old Mutual&#39s merged private client businesses Capel Cure Sharp and Greig Middleton are to be rebranded under the name Gerrard.

The move comes as part of an intensive month of restructuring at Old Mutual following its acquisitions of the Gerrard Group and United Asset Management earlier this year.

Last week, Money Marketing revealed that previous plans to rebrand the fund management arm of the merged CCS and GM business as Gerrard Asset Management had been reversed. The newly formed GAM was to be run by a new team of fund managers recruited from Hill Samuel.

Instead, the Hill Samuel team, led by John Ainsworth, will now be integrated into Old Mutual Asset Management, with Ainsworth taking over as chief executive. The stronger Omam is expected to launch a series of new funds in the coming months.

Ainsworth and Ashton Bradbury both worked on the UK smaller companies team at Hill Samuel although Omam currently has no funds in this sector.

Chase de Vere investment adviser Anna Bowes says: “Old Mutual has not been a particularly strong name in the IFA sector until now but it seems it is trying to build a stronger reputation for itself at the moment. These changes seem to be a good start.”