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November 4, 2019 12:01 am GMT
Nicola Horlick, the City fund manager once dubbed “Superwoman”, is to resurrect the investment management business she set up almost 15 years ago, with plans to raise £10bn over the next five years.

Horlick, who will stand as a Liberal Democrat candidate in Chelsea and Fulham in the upcoming general election, told Financial News that the Bramdean Asset Management business she launched in 2005 will begin to target money from insurers.

“We are looking to set up a Cayman fund, which will primarily manage insurance assets,” said Horlick, who specialised in managing UK pension fund money at the height of her fund management career.

The revival comes as Bramdean has secured a new equity partner,[/b] which has acquired 60% of the business, according to Horlick. She did not disclose the investor but said it was a company “involved in the insurance industry”.

“We’re aiming to have half a billion under management by February. The projections show £1.7bn within three years. Once we get to three years we should be able to scale pretty quickly. I would aim to get to £10bn in five years,” she said.

The 58-year-old gained notoriety in the 1990s following a public spat with her bosses at Morgan Grenfell Asset Management, who suspended her after it was claimed Horlick was looking to move to a rival along with some of her colleagues. She later resigned and set up SG Asset Management in 1997.

Aberdeen Asset Management took on Bramdean’s alternatives fund in 2009 after the unit became embroiled in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal in 2008. The alternatives fund had invested money with the disgraced Wall Street financier.

Bramdean has continued to exist, but has managed portfolios on behalf of clients in Horlick’s lending business Money & Co.

Horlick plans to have a team of 20 people based in London’s Oxford Street, including a quant team of four overseeing equities, two bond managers and two strategists. Laura Jones, chief operating officer at Money & Co, will become head of operations at Bramdean.

Horlick said: “There are vast numbers of small insurance companies in the UK and elsewhere with money in gilts and which could be producing a much better return. This is a sizeable amount of money.”

Asked what would happen to Bramdean if she was elected as an MP, Horlick said: “I have lots of very good people who can look after things for me.”

https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/city-superwoman-to-revive-bramdean-investment-business-20191104