Miton Group, the London-listed fund manager, has completed the acquisition of Darwin Investment Managers, for an initial consideration of £1.35 million ($2.91 million).

Miton Group, the London-listed fund manager, has completed the acquisition of Darwin Investment Managers, for an initial consideration of £1.35 million ($2.91 million).

Miton originally announced the acquisition on 9 June and the deal follows the appointment of Darwin founder David Jane to run four of Miton’s multi-asset funds.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Miton has acquired all the issued share capital of Darwin. Darwin’s multi-asset fund, set up in November 2010, is majority owned by Jane.

Part of the acquisition was satisfied by the issue of 1.65 million ordinary shares in the company at a price of 42.4 pence per share. These shares are subject to an orderly lock-in period of 12 months.

Jane was appointed after former Miton manager Martin Gray and Miton disagreed about the latter’s plans for the future.

According to Miton, its strategic objectives remain unchanged, but it has “become clear in recent months that the group’s plans for the future differ from those of Martin Gray. Consequently, after cordial discussions, Martin has decided to leave the Miton Group and cease management of the [above] mentioned funds”.

Jane has more than 23 years of experience in investment management and was previously head of equities investments at M&G, where he managed the M&G Managed Fund and M&G Cautious Multi Asset Fund.