Star global equities manager Alex Stanic has quit Newton Investment Management to join River & Mercantile, in a rare example of a player choosing to leave a large, secure, employer to join a boutique, despite the uncertain economic outlook.

Stanic is joining R&M to head up a new global equity business which will run alongside its existing UK funds, managed by Hugh Sergeant, Dan Hanbury and Richard Staveley. R&M is a boutique set up in 2006.