Baillie Gifford is to open an office in Dublin in anticipation of the UK’s departure from the European Union, it has announced.

The decision was aimed at supporting the firm’s European expansion, according to the Edinburgh-based investment company.

“In recent years, Baillie Gifford has seen growing demand from clients from across Europe,” said Andrew Telfer, joint senior partner at the £193bn (€216bn) manager.

“We are committed to servicing our existing EU-based clients, as well as expanding further.”

The firm had been exploring various options to allow it to continue this development before opting to set up an office in Dublin, according to Telfer.

The Dublin office is to be established in the form of a new EU subsidiary company, subject to authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland. 

According to IPE’s Top 400 report for 2017, Baillie Gifford managed €52.9bn of assets for European institutional clients, making it the 38th largest European institutional manager.

Other asset managers to have set up or expanded operations in EU fund management hubs in recent months include Columbia Threadneedle Investments and M&G, which have both moved assets run for some non-UK investors in their UK-based funds to Luxembourg. In May Legal & General Investment Management announced the Central Bank of Ireland had authorised its Dublin-management company.

A recently published State Street survey found that more than half of asset managers surveyed expected to increase their staffing levels in new locations in response to Brexit within the next five years.

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