Somerset Capital Management, the fund manager co-founded by Jacob Rees-Mogg and Dominic Johnson, has outsourced its trading function to a third-party provider, BEST EXECUTION can reveal – letting go of at least two of its traders in the process.
Somerset Capital declined to comment, but is believed to be outsourcing its trading desk to Northern Trust, according to sources familiar with the matter. Northern Trust declined to comment.
BEST EXECUTION understands that at least two traders have been let go due to the outsourcing decision, including central dealer and emerging markets multi-asset specialist Peter Osborn, along with another colleague.
The famously media-shy Somerset Capital, an emerging markets specialist with discretionary assets under management of around US$4.2bn, was founded in 2007 by Jacob Rees-Mogg and Dominic Johnson (later Lord Johnson after being created Baron Johnson of Lainston in October 2022).
Based in London, Singapore and Shanghai, the firm manages concentrated, bottom-up, long-term EM equity portfolios for governmental, family office, wealth management and institutional clients. Both Rees-Mogg and former CEO Johnson have now left the firm (in 2019 and 2022, respectively), although only Rees-Mogg retains an equity stake.
The firm reportedly rejected an offer of around GBP90m from Artemis Capital Management in 2019, but sales talk resurfaced in September last year as emerging market managers came under pressure from challenging political conditions.
Somerset Capital would be the latest in a string of firms to outsource their trading functions to Northern Trust; including the US$60bn Rathbones, which began outsourcing in November 2022.
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