UK fund manager Standard Life Investments has signed a partnership agreement with Swedish multi-manager Merrant, so that SLI’s China Equity Fund will form part of five Merrant multi-manager funds - Kina, BRIC, Asien, Emerging Markets and Global. SLI’s India Equity Fund will also form part of Merrant’s BRIC multi-manager fund. SLI’s China Equity Fund has returned 129.8 per cent over 12 months and 257.5 per cent since its launch in February 2005. SLI announced the official launch of an India Equity Fund aimed at European institutional and retail investors earlier this month. It aims to generate long term capital appreciation through a portfolio of instruments predominately in equity and equity-linked instruments of companies listed on the major stock exchanges of India. Åsa Norrie, SLI's investment director for Scandinavia, said: “Our agreement with Merrant forms another important part of SLI’s strategy in Sweden and indeed the Nordic region at large. We are quickly building a reputation outside of the UK for providing our clients and partners with truly unique solutions, not just in traditional asset classes and sectors but also in emerging markets such as China and India.” Merrant is an asset management subsidiary of Alicia Capital Management, an independent Swedish firm. Merrant Kina is a multi-manager fund investing in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Merrant BRIC is a multi-manager fund investing in Brazil, Russia, India and China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. Merrant Asien is a multi-manager fund investing in Asia, excluding Japan. Merrant Emerging Markets is a multi-manager fund investing in Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa. Merrant Global is a multi-manager fund investing in markets around the world.