(Bloomberg) — Somerset Capital Management, the investment firm co-founded by Conservative politicians Jacob Rees-Mogg and Dominic Johnson, is closing down after its biggest client cut ties.
London-based Somerset is in advanced talks to transfer its UK funds and their teams to a new investment adviser, according to a statement on Thursday. “The firm will be closing its wider institutional business in London,” the statement added.
The move comes after wealth manager St. James’s Place Plc withdrew two-thirds of Somerset’s assets to leave it with about $1 billion under management, according to the Financial Times, which reported the closure earlier.
Somerset focuses on emerging markets and has been run by Robert Diggle after two of the co-founders took up roles in the UK government.
Rees-Mogg juggled politics and investing after his election as an MP in 2010 but stepped down from Somerset in 2019 to join Boris Johnson’s administration. A high-profile supporter of Brexit, he briefly served as business secretary under Liz Truss’s leadership last year and is now on the Conservative back benches.
Dominic Johnson is a former vice-chairman of the Conservative party who was made a lord and a minister by Truss in October 2022. He is currently minister of state in the department for business and trade.
The pair previously worked together at asset manager Lloyd George alongside Edward Robertson, who also helped set up Somerset in 2007 and was most recently managing its global emerging markets fund.
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