Polar Capital, the UK-based asset manager, has confirmed that it is to launch a high-concentration Japan fund which will be managed by Gerard Cawley.

The Polar Capital Japan Alpha fund will hold just 25-30 stocks, with 50-100 per cent of the holdings being large cap and 0-50 per cent mid-cap. Polar Capital’s existing Japan fund (worth £1.2 billion,or just over $1.9 billion) focuses more on small caps, investing in 60-80 firms. Cawley has been assisting James Salter in the management of the flagship Japan fund since 2005, when he joined Polar from Schroders.

The new fund will be seeded by the Battle Against Cancer Investment Trust, which was launched earlier this month by a group of high-profile financial services figures. The investment trust, which lists on the London Stock Exchange later in October, will donate 1 per cent of its net asset value to charity annually instead of charging fund management fees.

Polar Capital’s assets under management stood at £5.30 billion at end-September, up from £5.08 billion three months before. Year-over-year the firm’s AuM has shot up 34.5 per cent from £3.94 billion.