UK equity manager Tom Carroll is leaving UK fund manager Schroders to start an investment boutique in partnership with former colleagues Ted Williams and Chris Rogers.

Williams agreed to leave Schroders this summer. Rogers left in 2002 to join HSBC Asset Management, which recently decided to merge its UK equities division into a European team and develop UK products using the services of rival managers. Derrick Dunne, co-founder of multi-manager adviser Attica, recently bought by rival IMS, is understood to be helping to develop the boutique, which is likely to take on traditional and hedge fund business. The firm has not yet been authorised by the UK regulator and Williams declined to comment. Carroll's departure follows that of several other Schroders managers in the wake of poor UK institutional equity performance. Head of UK equities Richard Buxton decided the fault lies with the way Schroders' teams are structured and has separated UK equities from the rest of Europe. Steps have been taken to include analysts in decision-making so managers do not compete for their services. Schroders has also hired Guy Walker from UBS Global Asset Management to strengthen UK analysis. In addition, Buxton has recruited Errol Francis, a former colleague from Baring Asset Management, to join his UK equity team. Francis had been working at Credit Suisse Asset Management.