People & Business: A City full of Manducas

IT APPEARS the three Manduca brothers are taking over fund management in the Square Mile.

I say this because Philip, 40, has just joined Tilney Investment Management to be head of European Investment. By coincidence his elder brother Paul, 47, is at Threadneedle Asset Management, while his younger brother Francis, 34, is in charge of the smaller companies desk at Gartmore.

Philip, who was entertaining a group of clients at Aintree races yesterday, assured me that this was due to the healthy earnings to be made in fund management rather than any genetic disposition. "There's less volatility than in broking or trading," he says.

The middle brother has spent three years at Eldon Capital Management as chief investment officer for Emerging Europe. At Tilney he is set to announce more recruits for a big expansion into Europe.

So has he picked any winners at Aintree? "No, and I don't expect to," he says. "Generally I only bet on things where I have a good view of the facts - unlike today."