Quilter has launched the Quilter Investors Long-Short Equity Fund, appointing JP Morgan Asset Management to manage the mandate. The strategy is designed to generate positive returns by focusing on companies connected directly or indirectly to consumer activity.

The fund will be led by Jonathan Ingram, alongside Alexander Whyte, Victoria Helvert, and Guy Anderson, and is built on the team’s recently launched JPM Consumer Long-Short Fund. The portfolio combines proprietary quantitative signals, machine learning, and fundamental analysis, typically maintaining low-net equity exposure while allowing stock-specific risk to drive returns.

Quilter will include the fund across its multi-asset solutions, including the WealthSelect Managed Portfolio Service (MPS). At the latest rebalance, WealthSelect added the fund to portfolios and increased exposure to alternative strategies overall, while reducing cash holdings. The team cited market volatility, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, and concerns around asset bubbles and inflation as drivers for seeking diversified, alternative sources of returns.

Stuart Clark, portfolio manager of Quilter’s WealthSelect MPS, said the fund offers a “disciplined, differentiated approach” that complements existing portfolio holdings and provides genuine diversification amid uncertainty.

Lead portfolio manager Jonathan Ingram added that the fund aims to leverage insights into evolving consumer trends worldwide to build a long-short portfolio targeting returns above cash for Quilter clients.

The fund highlights Quilter’s ongoing strategy of partnering with established managers and integrating alternative approaches into its wealth management solutions.