Lyttleton to focus on UK Absolute Alpha after relinquishing fund

BlackRock’s Mark Lyttleton has stepped down from running the firm’s £448 million UK equity fund, to focus on running the UK Absolute Alpha and UK Dynamic funds.

Lyttleton will be replaced by Nick Little on the fund, who was appointed co-manager last year.

The £1.2 billion BlackRock UK Absolute Alpha fund, once a stalwart offering in the absolute return space, has seen mixed discreet performance, but over the last three years it has outperformed its benchmark.  The vehicle delivered 4.8% to 17 February, versus 2.7% by its comparitor index.

Lyttleton’s other high alpha fund, UK Dynamic, has also suffered over recent years, returning 45.19% over three years to the end of 2011, versus the FTSE All Share which returned 56.9%. 

The BlackRock UK fund returned 43.39% over three years, underperforming the FTSE 100 Total Return index’s 52.85%.

Tony Stenning, head of UK Retail at BlackRock said: ‘Nick’s appointment to sole manager is a reflection of his strong track record of managing UK equity mandates and the importance of the core offering in the BlackRock UK Equity product range.

‘He has a long track record of success and a strong reputation amongst the investor community for his stock-picking talent and with Nick as sole manager we are able to continue to provide a broad and diverse range of product solutions that meet our clients’ needs.’