The name of the game for rival funds

One More Thing:Irish Life Investment Managers' (ILIM) recent launch of its "Irish Opportunities Fund" to much fanfare spurred its rivals at Oppenheim Investment Managers into action last week.

Oppenheim launched a fund with exactly the same name in October 2006 to invest in blue-chip Irish and global public companies. While there's no copyright on the names of funds, ILIM's decision to give its one the same title came as a surprise.

Oppenheim promptly issued a press release to embarrass its rival. "Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so it comes as no surprise to us that Irish Life has named their fund after ours but they'll be hard-pressed to match our performance," boasted Kevin Gallacher, Oppenheim's managing director.

Actually, Oppenheim has taken in less than €5 million in client funds for its opportunities fund. ILIM, by contrast, secured €20 million from customers for its rival fund within three days of its launch. Oppenheim's fund is also 0.5 per cent under water since its launch last year, although the Iseq has declined by more than 5 per cent over the same period. And Oppenheim's equity funds have outperformed ILIM in recent times.

With markets currently in a heap, it's safe to assume ILIM's new fund is nursing a loss.

There has been little love lost between the two fund managers since EBS decided last year to switch its €650 million Summit funds from Oppenheim to Irish Life. Oppenheim had managed the funds since 1990. It's a decision that clearly still rankles.