Geffen gunning for Europe

Robin Geffen, one of the UK’s best performing fund managers over the last five years, is looking to expand distribution of his Neptune suite of equity products into Continental Europe. Funds handled by Neptune Investment Management are already nudging Ł100m (E150m), siphoned in from UK-based independent advisers since last May by a crack sales team poached from HSBC. The next stage is to secure agreements with at least three private banks. “Our plans for Europe are to sign distribution deals rather than to build a sales force. We need to get onto open architecture platforms,” said Mr Geffen. There has never been any doubting Mr Geffen’s fund management prowess, but consultants were reluctant to recommend his funds when he was running Orbitex, and his sales force failed to deliver. He reports no such problems at Neptune, since the recruitment of Patrick Burton and Keith Rumbelow, who were raising Ł800m (E1.2bn) a year at HSBC. The funds they are peddling include a recently launched Euro Opportunities product, co-managed by Mr Geffen and Barry Norris, formerly a junior manager at Baillie Gifford. This fund has a 19 per cent East European weighting.