Rights and Issues Investment Trust (RIII) is reviewing the future management of its portfolio after Jupiter Asset Management announced that the trust’s two investment managers, Matt Cable and Tim Service, will leave the firm in early 2027.

The board of the £110m-plus UK smaller companies trust said on Monday that, in light of the changes, it intends to “review its options in respect of the management of the company’s assets”.

The wording leaves open the possibility of a wider review of RIII’s investment management arrangements rather than an automatic transfer of the portfolio to the managers Jupiter has lined up to succeed Cable and Service.

Jupiter announced separately that it has hired George Ensor and Mayan Uthayakumar from Liontrust to strengthen its UK equities operation. The pair, who previously worked at River Global before its acquisition by Liontrust, are expected to join Jupiter in January 2027.

Ensor and Uthayakumar currently manage the Liontrust UK Listed Smaller Companies fund and the River UK Micro Cap investment trust. Jupiter said they will take responsibility for its existing UK small and mid-cap fund range as part of a wider restructuring of its UK equities business.

The changes mean Cable and Service will leave Jupiter in early 2027. RIII’s board has stopped short of endorsing Jupiter’s succession arrangements and will instead consider its options.

The impending departure of both Cable and Service means RIII is facing another reset little more than four years after ending almost four decades of continuity under long-standing manager Simon Knott.

Knott had managed the trust for 39 years before retiring in 2022, when the board appointed Jupiter Asset Management following a review of potential successors. Dan Nickols initially took the lead alongside Cable, but retired from the industry less than two years later. Cable then stepped up as lead manager, supported by Service, who also succeeded Nickols as head of Jupiter’s UK Small and Mid-Cap team.