Funds: New boutique, but is it shopping for staff?

Fund managers eager to quit large firms in favour of cosy boutiques may be interested to learn of a new shop on the block.

According to the website GlobalMoneyManagement.com, James Barham and Adam Hayes-Newington, both former marketing specialists at Intermediate Capital Managers, are starting a new long-only specialist boutique to be named 'River Mercantile.'

Barham and Hayes- Newington used to work together at Lion Trust, and the new boutique is being backed by Sir John Beckwith, a former owner of Lion Trust.

The article does not make clear whether Barham and Hayes-Newington will be looking to supplement their ranks with outside hires. An attempt to query hiring intentions at River Mercantile on its BT-listed telephone number yielded only the switchboard of Lion Trust, which claimed to know nothing of the new venture.