Skandia Investment Group has awarded Henderson Global Investors an investment mandate within its UK Strategic Best Ideas Fund.

The long/short UK equity mandate will be managed by Henderson manager Paul Casson who replaces former Cazenove manager Neil Pegrum.

Casson said, 'In a lower growth world the flexible nature of the fund and ability to capitalise on the short side can make a valuable contribution to client returns.'

The UK Strategic Best Ideas Fund is he only long/short equity multi-manager fund and was launched in 2007.

Ryan Hughes, senior fund manager at Skandia, said, 'Paul Casson is an experienced long/short manager with proven alpha generation.

'His investment philosophy can best be described as pragmatic, with no real style or market cap bias and fundamentally rooted in capital preservation which is an approach highly suitable to UK Strategic Best Ideas.'