Talk:Liontrust Asset Management

Proposed rewrites

Hi @Dormskirk, I see you are the main contributor to this article, and as such likely the most knowledgable editor on Wikipedia on this subject, so I wondered if you would consider having a look at some updates and adding them if appropriate? The article is currently quite short so I've had a look at the sources available online and put together a draft of potentially suitable updates.

I have a conflict of interest with Liontrust Asset Management so I haven't added this directly, but the below includes updates, cuts, corrections and general material which might make sense to include in the article. I've suggested new wording for the lead and the history section, and as a lot of the news published on Liontrust is focused on acquisitions, I have suggested a new section for those as well, where I have moved some of the information from the history section.

Lead

Original:

Liontrust Asset Management plc is a British asset management company based in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Proposed rewrite:

Liontrust Asset Management plc is a British specialist and independent fund management company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It manages open-ended funds domiciled in the UK and Ireland, multi-asset portfolios, the Edinburgh investment Trust and segregated accounts. Liontrust's fund management teams invest in a range of equities, global fixed income, and multi-asset funds and portfolios. Liontrust's clients include institutional investors, wealth managers, fund of funds, financial advisers and retail investors in the UK, Europe and South America. Liontrust is headquartered in London and also has offices in Edinburgh and Luxembourg.

History

Original:

The company, which was established in 1995, was the subject of an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 1999. It acquired Alliance Trust Investment Management in December 2016 and bought Neptune Investment Management in October 2019. After incurring an outflow of £0.5 billion, the company created a new investment management team in July 2022.

Proposed rewrite:

Liontrust was established in 1994 and launched in 1995, and had an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 1999 as Liontrust Asset Management PLC. Liontrust became a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap in 2014 and entered the FTSE 250 in 2020.
Adrian Collins became non-executive chair in early 2009 John Ions became chief executive in May 2010 and remains as Chief Executive. Vinay Abrol is the CFO/COO while Alastair Barbour took over from Adrian Collins as non-executive Chair in 2019.
The Economic Advantage team was formed in 1997, the Cashflow Solution team in 2006 and the Global Fixed Income team in 2018 while the other investment teams have been established through acquisitions since 2013.

Proposed new section:

Acquisitions

Liontrust acquired North Investment Partners Multi Asset team and portfolios in 2013.
In 2017 Liontrust completed their £30 million acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments, creating the Sustainable Investment team.
The £40 million acquisition of Neptune Investment Management completed in 2019, bringing UK, global and emerging markets equity funds to Liontrust.
In 2020, Liontrust bought Architas Advisory Services and Architas Multi-Manager from Axa in a deal worth £75 million, merging the Architas UK Fund Management team with the multi asset investment team at Liontrust and bringing multi-asset funds to Liontrust.
After announcing a deal in December 2021, Liontrust completed the £120 million takeover of Majedie Asset Management in April 2022. Majedie’s fund managers became the Global Fundamental team at Liontrust.

I'm hoping that the citations and language used meet Wikipedia's standards, but please leave me a message on my Talk page if you have any pointers. Whatyouadore (talk) 18:21, 24 November 2023 (UTC)

References

Hi - The clause "while the other investment teams have been established through acquisitions since 2013" needs a citation. Otherwise this looks OK to me, but would be interested to hear what other editors think. Dormskirk (talk) 18:51, 24 November 2023 (UTC)

Hi @Dormskirk

This FT Adviser and this FN London piece both indicate that the acquisition pattern started in 2013 when Liontrust launched a multi-asset investment team, while this Insider article from 2016 regarding sustainable investments and this Trade News article from 2019 when Liontrust launched a new global equity team show that this pattern continues years later.

I'm hoping that you consider these citations are sufficient and can implement the changes when you get a chance to. If you believe a second opinion is needed please feel free to ask another editor with finance knowledge to have a look at my suggestions. Thank you once again for taking a look at this! Whatyouadore (talk) 14:38, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

References

Looks OK to me but I will give other editors a chance to consider. Dormskirk (talk) 15:04, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

The phrase specialist and independent fund management company seems overly complicated from the simpler "asset management company". The phrase "domiciled in the UK", I'm guessing that's the same as saying it's "located in the UK" - perhaps it's best to keep this simpler. Also, I can't help feeling that invest in a range of equities, global fixed income, and multi-asset funds and portfolios. as well as the listing of dates that the individual financial teams began operating (complete with their Capitalized Letters For Each Team) sounds a bit too promotional. Regards,  Spintendo  11:22, 3 December 2023 (UTC)

Would just like to clarify that domicile and located may refer to two different things. Domicile is where a country is legally registered, which for many large companies is typically a tax haven such as Ireland or the Cayman Islands. Location may refer to the headquarters or where most of their employees are. RetroCosmos (talk) 04:12, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

Thank you @RetroCosmos:, I stand corrected! So "domiciled" it is then. My only remaining concern as I mentioned earlier would be the tone of the descriptions of services along with the individual financial team's "activation" dates. I'm of the feeling that in business articles, in order to inoculate against promotional language inadvertently creeping in, an article should adopt the aphorism "less is more". Compare the following two claims:

1. Liontrust's fund management teams invest in a range of equities, global fixed income, and multi-asset funds and portfolios. Liontrust's clients include institutional investors, wealth managers, fund of funds, financial advisers and retail investors in the UK, Europe and South America.
2. Liontrust handles investments for clients in Europe and South America.

In the above, number 2 cannot, in any way shape or form, be suspected or accused of acting promotional in its verbiage. The only thing that defines it is its simplicity and utility. I'm afraid the same cannot be said of number 1 — with a seeming grandiloquence about it, it flashes its verbiage very brightly. I believe a rewrite should be attempted to bring about a more humble prose that—while cut back—would still offer a good amount of information. Regards,  Spintendo  10:31, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

I agree with your comparison. I am always wary of statements such as "an array of" or "a wide variety of". Typically these statements are not as succinct as possible. That being said I don't see anything that screams bias to me RetroCosmos (talk) 11:26, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

I agree with Spintendo: version 2 less promotional. Dormskirk (talk) 12:59, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Hi again @Dormskirk and others,

Thanks for all the feedback on this request. I am fine to go with version 2 to keep the page neutral and compliant with Wikipedia standards, and naturally updating mentions of the company being a FTSE 250 constituent as this is currently not the case.

Thank you again for taking a look at this Whatyouadore (talk) 17:01, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Done (using version 2 as per the discussion above). Dormskirk (talk) 19:58, 19 January 2024 (UTC)