Peter Stanyer, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers' (MLIM's) final witness of fact in the Unilever case, told the court that investment consultants were too easily swayed by performance figures.
Stanyer's criticism came on the 21st day of the trial as he was being cross-examined by Jonathan Sumption, Unilever's QC. Claiming MLIM reduced individual manager discretion only because it was concerned to give consultants a simple message, he said: "I do not want to be too negative about investment consultants, but [their] opinions do tend to reflect performance numbers in really quite a predictable fashion."
