River Global to acquire Devon Equity Management

River Global, an asset and wealth manager, has announced its intention to acquire Devon Equity Management, which manages the European Opportunities Trust.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). If approved, the deal is expected to go through later this year.

As part of the deal, Alexander Darwall, lead manager of the trust and founder of Devon Equity Management in 2019, will move to River Global where he’ll become Co-Head of European Equities and continue to manage the trust. Charlie Southern, currently a senior fund manager at Devon, will become Co-Head of European Equities alongside Darwall. Luca Emo Capodilista, also a founder of Devon, will continue to manage the trust with Darwall in a senior role.

Devon will be integrated with River Global’s existing business and operations during the first year. It should allow the trust to access River Global's distribution and marketing capabilities and the opportunity for collaboration between investment teams.

We intend to meet the trust’s managers later this year, to get a full update on the trust and find out more once the deal has settled. We’ll provide a further update to investors at this stage.

In the meantime, we expect the investment philosophy and process that’s been used by Darwall since the trust’s launch in 2000 to remain the same (Darwall previously managed the trust at Jupiter Asset Management prior to taking it with him when he founded Devon). He continues to look for ‘special’ European companies, which should have a unique competitive advantage and the potential to do well regardless of what’s going on in the wider economy.