Asset managers feel the lure of boutiques

Fund managers contemplating moving to boutique firms have been given ample reason for doing so this week.

Financial News highlighted the ascension of boutique firms such as Pzena Investment Management and Neptune, which are out performing their larger rivals in global equity performance league tables.

The Telegraph reported that Isabel Hudson, a former Prudential executive who set up a specialist firm to take over company retirement schemes, was in the running to win a massive 2.7bn mandate from Telent, the remains of the former Marconi empire.

And Nicola Horlick, head of boutique firm Bramdean Asset Management, was heard on Radio 4, bemoaning large asset managers' lack of interest in hiring investment talent aged 40+, despite older managers' demonstrable strong performance at boutique firms.

Kim Yates, head of the asset management practice at headhunter Principal Search, tells eFinancialCareers that larger firms are well aware of the allure of the boutiques, and are changing their image.

"The fact is, that all the big firms are now pitching themselves to employees and clients as boutiques," she says. "Big firms like Merrill Lynch Investment Managers have broken their teams down into what are effectively a series of small operations."