Henderson halving Touche Remnant staff

HENDERSON Administration, the fund manager which last month bought the rival firm Touche Remnant, is making nearly half of its newly-acquired staff redundant, writes Paul Durman.

The 76 job losses announced yesterday fell among Touche's marketing, administrative and secretarial staff. About 20 left immediately, and the remainder will go by the end of March.

Henderson had made no secret of its plans for jobs cuts, seen as necessary for it to make the most of its pounds 42.5m deal. Jeremy Edwards, managing director, warned there might be a few more redundancies in due course: 'Until we settle everything down, we can't be sure.'

The departing staff will share pounds 1.4m in redundancy payments, pension entitlements and advice on finding new jobs. The annual saving is expected to be higher than this, although Mr Edwards could not put a precise figure on it at this stage.

Mr Edwards said Henderson was not shedding fund managers: 'We need all the fund managers we can get.'

Touche Remnant's remaining staff are transferring to Henderson's offices in Finsbury Avenue in the City. Societe Generale, the firm's former owner, agreed to take on the lease of Touche's Puddle Dock headquarters. This has saved Henderson pounds 2.5m a year.

The purchase of Touche Remnant has increased Henderson's funds under management to about pounds 10bn.