Stellar Asset Management has expanded its AIM service with the announcement of two new senior managers and a new Liverpool office.
The inheritance tax and estate planning specialist has appointed fund manager Stephen English (pictured) as its in-house AIM fund manager. English joins Stellar from Liverpool-based stockbroker Blankstone Sington, where he managed the firm’s AIM IHT service since its inception in 2010.
Phil Kirwan (left) has been appointed AIM manager and will work alongside English to bring Stellar’s AIM stock-picking and portfolio management in-house, ending its existing outsourced model. Kirwan also joins from Blankstone Sington, where he was a portfolio manager for the AIM IHT portfolio.
Jonathan Gain, CEO, Stellar, said the firm sees a “tremendous opportunity” to expand further in the AIM market.
Gain said: “It has long been our desire to bring our AIM fund management in-house, to allow us to have greater control and widen our service for clients. We wanted to find a fund manager who would bring ingenuity, intelligence and insight and Stephen is just that person. Alongside Stephen’s appointment, we have big plans for product innovation and adding further platforms to our distribution capabilities as we strive for eminence in the AIM IHT market.”
English commented: “I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to bring the service in-house at Stellar and add value for clients. The AIM market is the ultimate stock-pickers market. In my view, much of the large cap proportion of the AIM market is replete with yesterday’s darlings and we will be focusing on finding tomorrow’s winners amongst the smaller capitalised stocks.”
Under English’s leadership, the expanded AIM IHT service will be capped at around £200 million to give Stellar the ability to choose any AIM stocks to maximise client returns, the firm said.
The appointment of English and Kirwan also marks the opening of Stellar’s first non-London office in Liverpool. John Fearon, senior business development manager, has been recruited to support financial advisers in the North West region.
As part of its AIM expansion, Stellar plans to increase the number of platforms its portfolios are available on, after recently joining the Kuber Ventures Platform and adding to its existing availability on the Standard Life and Transact platforms.
