Edinburgh-based investment giant Baillie Gifford continued its record-breaking year in the third quarter thanks to the strong performance of its funds.

BlackRock and Baillie Gifford dominated third quarter fund sales, according to the latest UK fund industry sales reports.

BlackRock led the sales performance with £1.9 billion of net retail sales over Q3, while Baillie Gifford was in second place with net sales of £1.4 billion, a 26% increase on the previous quarter.

Royal London Asset Management came third with net fund sales of £1.1 billion.

Baillie Gifford’s assets under management have soared this year — from around £197 billion in March to about £282 billion in September.

The partnership’s high-profile funds are major shareholders in prominent global companies including Tesla, Amazon, Tencent, Netflix and Alibaba. 

Helen Pridham, editor of the Pridham Report, said: “Many of the leading companies were still attracting a good level of business despite restrictions which meant having to interact with their clients via Zoom and other digital means.”