Abrdn’s MPS team has been reshuffling the pack, and Asset Allocator has been noting the changes with interest. 

We recently covered their dive into UK small-caps, and since then more changes have surfaced. 

Perhaps the most high profile change is that Abrdn have sold out of JOHCM UK Dynamic after Alex Savvides’ departure for Jupiter. 

We previously noted that around £8mn a day was pulled from the fund in the immediate aftermath of the announcement of Savvides's exit. 

Thomas Watts, investment analyst on Abrdn's portfolio solutions, told Asset Allocator they see the fund as synonymous with Savvides since he established its process and philosophy and subsequently run it for more than a decade. Because of this, they felt he would be almost impossible to replace and, as a result, the team has switched it for Man GLG Undervalued Assets. 

Abrdn chose this value mandate, run by Henry Dixon and Jack Barrett, for its "extremely disciplined" process that focuses on establishing the true value of companies from their balance sheets. 

Dixon's fund is probably a purer value play than Savvides, and is has been popular with the allocators we cover but now only appears in three portfolios. 

Across their Asian holdings, Abrdn has made another high-profile switch. They sold out of Invesco Japanese Equity Advantage and replaced it with M&G Japan, a fund which has been capturing the lion’s share of allocators’ capital for the best part of a year now. 

“Following a recent high-level review of our Japan equity exposure, we feel the current economic situation in Japan favours a more value-biased portfolio and so the growth tilted Invesco fund was switched for the more value orientated M&G Japan fund,” he said. “The Invesco fund also seemed to become stagnated with no trades being made in six months, and only one change made in a year.”

DFMs see many green flags in M&G Japan, not least its attractive OCF, which we covered in-depth last month. You can read more about its price war with Schroder Toyko, here.