UK- Richard Timberlake’s multi manager outfit Investment Manager Selection (IMS) has appointed Neil Clare from Standard & Poor’s where he was a senior analyst. Clare, who is a specialist on Japan and the Pacific, joins the eight-strong research team which contains many of his old colleagues.

The appointment comes on the back of £200m of new business for IMS which was launched in 1999 and now manages around £1.4bn for asset management groups, life companies and banks.

Clare, who spent seven years at the ratings agency, says his main interests lie in research, analysis and selection. “I am looking forward to working with Giles Gilbertson and Richard Timberlake again and getting back closer to the fund management,” he says.

The appointment coincides with the announcement that WAY Fund Managers, a small asset management and IFA firm, has appointed IMS to take over the management of its long-only range of multi manager fund of funds.

WAY chief executive David Pook said of IMS: “we particularly like their approach to risk, style diversification and portfolio construction, which is different to most of the industry.”

IMS replaces incumbent manager Progressive Alternative Investments and Richard Timberlake and Paul Kim will be responsible for managing the £35m funds. “We’re not doing the marketing, we’re just selecting the managers,” says Timberlake.

According to the 2002 UK fund industry review and directory, two thirds of unit trust and OEIC managers have been managing their funds for less than three years.

“The continual chopping and changing makes it increasingly difficult for IFAs to keep abreast of the best funds and fund managers. We believe that by allowing IMS to undertake the objective and subjective analysis of funds and fund managers, IFA clients can enhance investment returns over the medium to long term,” says WAY chairman Paul Wilcox.