Omnis Investments, Openwork’s specialist asset management company with £6.9bn under management, has appointed Jupiter Asset Management as manager of its £317m Omnis Income & Growth Fund, replacing Woodford.

Jupiter, which already manages Omnis’s Emerging Markets and European Equity funds, was appointed after a “competitive” selection process and replaces Woodford Investment Management.
 
The Omnis Income & Growth Fund will be managed by Ben Whitmore, who joined Jupiter in 2006 and is currently head of strategy, value equities, with a mandate to maximise value through a demonstrably active investment approach capable of delivering outperformance over the medium to long-term.

The decision to select a new investment manager was said to have been made in May “as part of Omnis’s focus on delivering the best outcomes for clients and the advisers that serve them”.
 
Mike Morrow, wealth and platform director at Openwork, said: “We have the utmost confidence in the Omnis Income & Growth Fund value-driven mandate and in Jupiter’s ability to manage the portfolio in the best interests of clients and advisers.”
 
Omnis says its funds “are designed to sit within diversified portfolios and its use of segregated fund mandates enables advisers and their clients to benefit from a diversified blended fund approach.

“They provide a range of portfolios which have no exposure to the Omnis Income & Growth Fund  should advisers and their clients wish to consider alternative options for their investments.”