Peter Mann, chair of new advice group Radiant Financial and former chief executive of Skandia Bank, tells us what’s driving the latest developments in the wealth consolidator space – such as an uptick in private equity-backed acquisitions – and why an eventual public listing is not off the table for the firm.

In this episode we spoke with Fay Ren, co-manager of the Cerno Pacific fund which has returned an impressive 68.9% over the past year, compared with a sector average of 29.9%.

Alongside big name Chinese tech stocks such as Tencent and Alibaba, the fund also has a 20% allocation to healthcare.

We spoke about whether Chinese pharmaceuticals and medical technology can gain legitimacy on the world stage, despite there being political tensions.

‘There’s still a lot of suspicion on Chinese pharmaceuticals’, Ren said.

The fund manager also spoke about her allocation to electric vehicle (EV) parts producers, rather than individual EV brands.

In episode two of our podcast series, Wealth Manager’s Ross Miller discusses social impact investing with Tim Martin, investment analyst at Cavendish Ware.

Tim is the lead analyst on the firm’s impact portfolio, and discusses impact investing across asset classes, the balance between financial and social returns, and red flags in the fund selection process.

In this episode I spoke with Pietro Nicholls, manager of the RM Alternative Income fund.

The strategy has a 42% allocation to infrastructure, and 38% in real estate.

It’s made up of listed equities paired with Infrastructure Investment trusts and REITs.

The fund has recovered from the market shock of last March, and has gone on to return 3.1% over a year. But what are its prospects like for the future?

In the low interest rate environment demand for private debt has soared.

Alternatives data provider Preqin anticipates assets in this relatively niche fixed income market will rise by around 11.4% at a compound annual growth rate to $1.46tn (£1.05tn) over the next five years.

We speak to Saranac head of private capital Robert Crowther-Jones on how to exploit this phenomenon, assessing if can help investors meet income needs while managing the default risk.

But does the return potential of private debt justify the high investment costs associated with this asset class?

Spacs, shell companies whose sole purpose is to buy another business and take it public, are wildly fashionable these days. Such is the excitement that the UK is eyeing a change of its listing rules to lure these vehicles to the London Stock Exchange. What could possibly go wrong? AJ Bell chief investment officer Russ Mould discusses the pros and cons of these blanc cheque firms.

In Rishi Sunak’s Spring Budget it was announced that corporation tax is raising to 25% in 2023.

But what does this mean for small cap firms?

I spoke with veteran smaller companies fund manager Paul Jourdan, from Amati, to get his reactions to the Budget.

Tech stocks have taken a bashing this week, but is this correction likely to be sustained?

Scottish Mortgage trust has been one of the most severe casualties on the FTSE, after an exceptional run over the past year.

The largest UK investment trust has significant allocations to the likes of Tesla and Amazon, as well as Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent - all of which have been hit this week.

I spoke with Nick Wood, head of fund research at Quilter Cheviot to see whether growth investors should be worried.

In this extract from our asset allocation debate, we discussed ESG products, and how Covid-19 has increased their popularity.

But has this trend fundamentally changed asset allocation for the year ahead, and are ESG ratings really giving portfolio managers enough information?

Speakers in this podcast include :

Justin Onuekwusi - Legal & General

Suzanne Hutchins, Newton

Jean-Paul Jaegers, Barclays Wealth

Fahad Kamal, Kleinwort Hambros

Rosie Bullard, James Hambro & Partners

In this brand new monthly podcast series, Wealth Manager’s Ross Miller catches up with a different fund selector in the social impact investing space. First up is Louisiana Salge, senior sustainability specialist at EQ Investors. She discusses the goals of impact investing, how they approach the issue of impact measurement, and her top three impact fund picks.