JO Hambro Capital Management, the London-based boutique asset manager, is to expand its private client investment management activity through the launch of a subsidiary called James Hambro & Partners.

Once given regulatory approval, James Hambro & Partners will assume the administration of JO Hambro Capital Management’s existing private client assets, which currently total over £200 million ($359 million) of JOHCM’s aggregated £3.9 billion of assets. In time the firm plans to grow the private client business to account for a significant proportion of the group’s total assets.

“Our core business will remain focused on OEICs, other open-ended funds and specific institutional mandates, but James Hambro & Partners will add another string to our bow, providing a tailored service for high net worth individuals,” Gavin Rochussen, chief executive of JOHCM, said in a statement.

“Private clients and the provision of wealth management services is an increasingly important part of the overall investment universe and accordingly demands the service to match this status. This client segment also provides a long term and stable client base which will help further diversify our underlying assets and revenue steams,” he said. 

James Hambro & Partners’ chief executive is to be Andrew Steel, who, since joining JOHCM in July 2009, has hired a number of senior team members to build out the new business. Among these are Anthony Balniel and William van Straubenzee who have joined as founding partners, having previously worked for JO Hambro Investment Management. JOHIM formed part of the original JO Hambro business, but no longer has links to JOHCM, having been acquired by Credit Suisse in 2000.

Mr Balniel, the former head of private clients at JOHIM, will manage private client portfolios at James Hambro & Partners; Mr van Straubenzee, who had served as a director at JOHIM for some 20 years, will both manage client portfolios and be responsible for the private client investment process.

Although the economic outlook remains uncertain in the wake of the financial crisis, a number of companies are seizing the opportunity to expand or launch new business lines. Many hold that there is widespread dissatisfaction among high net worth individuals with the larger wealth managers and so believe that now is an ideal juncture to capitalise on clients’ greater willingness to move firms and try a more boutique-style approach.