The US-headquartered investment giant is to merge one of its unit trusts that has exposure to emerging markets with its UCITS range in response to wholesale market demand.

BNY Mellon Investment Management, which has $1.7 trillion of assets under management, is merging its Newton Global Emerging Markets Fund, an authorised unit trust, with the UK-domiciled BNY Mellon Investment Funds UCITS range.

The proposal follows increasing investor demand for the fund in the wholesale market, the firm said. Subject to shareholder approval, the change will come into effect on 25 July 2015, BNY Mellon IM, part of US-listed BNY Mellon, said in a statement.

The Newton Global Emerging Markets Fund is managed by Rob Marshall-Lee and alternate manager Sophia Whitbread. Marshall-Lee, who was recently appointed head of the newly combined Newton emerging and Asian equity team, has managed the £47.5 million ($72.5 million) fund since May 2011. 

The fund takes a high-conviction approach, typically holding between 50 and 80 stocks, and aims to generate an excess of 2 per cent per annum over a five-year rolling period against the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.