Alliance Trust (ATST) is proposing to outsource its management and adopt a manager of manager structure. It also plans to sell Alliance Trust Investments following a strategic review by its board and some external advisers. These are the latest in a series of changes over the past few years following pressure from activist shareholder Elliott Advisors, which have included an overhaul of its board, the departure of chief executive Katherine Garrett-Cox, a greater focus on equities and a drive to reduce costs.
Alliance Trust's board proposes outsourcing management to around eight equity managers who would each create a portfolio of about 20 shares. The managers would be selected by Willis Towers Watson (WTW), a consultancy that creates portfolios for institutions such as pensions.
WTW would pick these managers from about 40 that it rates as "best in class". WTW has about 100 research analysts, 21 of which focus on long-only global equities. Last year WTW launched an institutional multi-manager fund, Global Equity Focus, which outperformed its benchmark by 3.9 per cent between 17 August 2015 and 30 November 2016.