Somerset Capital Management to Close Following Major Client Loss

The investment firm co-founded by Tory MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg faces closure after losing over two-thirds of its assets, with plans to transfer top funds to a new adviser.

Somerset Capital Management, co-founded by Tory MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, is to shut down after losing its largest client, St James’s Place, which resulted in a loss of more than two-thirds of its assets.
Somerset Capital, which specializes in investing in emerging markets, was left managing $1bn, a level at which many fund managers struggle to operate given the costs involved.
The firm is in advanced talks to transfer its top performing funds to a new investment adviser.
Rees-Mogg, who left the day-to-day running of the group in 2019, remains a significant shareholder in the company and has earned hundreds of thousands of pounds in dividends from the business.
The closure comes after a year of exploring a potential sale of the business, with a bid of up to £90m from London’s Artemis Investment Management rejected in 2019.