London-headquartered Premier Asset Management has promoted Neil Birrell to the position of chief investment officer, as the current CIO and head of global equities, Mike Jennings, leaves the firm.

London-headquartered Premier Asset Management has promoted Neil Birrell to the position of chief investment officer, as the current CIO and head of global equities, Mike Jennings, leaves the firm to pursue other opportunities.

The Premier Global Strategic Growth Fund, co-managed by Mike Jennings and Jake Robbins, will now be managed solely by Jake Robbins, who joined Premier in 2011 from Investec Asset Management. In addition to his new role as CIO, Neil Birrell will continue as manager of the Premier Diversified Fund, having joined the firm in January 2013. Birrell has over 25 years of investment experience including serving in the role as CIO at Framlington Asset Management.

Premier also announced that it will merge its China Enterprise Fund, the Global Strategic Growth Fund and its Global Alpha Growth Fund, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. The funds respectively had £8.7 million (about $13.9 million), £56.2 million and £18.4 million in assets as at 31 October 2013.

The new global equity fund will have critical mass and a focused portfolio of global equities, including emerging markets and the greater China region, managed by Jake Robbins, the firm said.

“We are committed to building our global equity proposition, as we believe this is one of the exciting areas for our clients in the future. The proposed creation of a new, larger Premier global equity fund is designed to help us ensure we are well placed to deliver the best possible investment value to clients in this area,” explained chief executive Mike O’Shea.

As at 31 July 2013 Premier Asset Management had £2.3 billion ($3.68 billion) in assets under management.