The arrival of star manager Richard Buxton helped the group attract £857m worth of net inflows in quarter one, with Buxton’s UK Alpha fund its best-selling product.

Standard Life Investments and Henderson took second and third place, with £642m abd £619m respectively, according to The Pridham Report, which monitors quarterly fund flows.

Although total net sales were down in the quarter, gross sales increased indicating higher levels of switching activity.

M&G topped the leaderboard, regaining the lead from Schroders.

M&G’s gross sales were 20 per cent higher than the same period last year, thanks to strong inflows into its Optimal Income, Global Dividend and Property funds.

Invesco Perpetual continued to enjoy steady sales flows into its High Income and Distribution funds “indicating that many investors either didn’t know or didn’t care about Neil Woodford’s imminent departure”.

According to the report, the first quarter of the year has traditionally been the peak time for fund sales as investors rushed to max out their ISA allowances before the end of the tax year.

But this year net retail fund sales were down as investors took up their ISA allowances early in the tax year instead. This trend follows a similar pattern to last year.

Top ten managers by gross retail sales in Q1 2014 (£m)

M&G                                          £2,537.9
Schroders                                 £2,431.9
Invesco Perpetual                    £2,219.2
Standard Life Inv                      £1,987.9
Old Mutual Global Investors      £1,575.0
Henderson                                £1,480.5
BNY Mellon                                £1,470.0
BlackRock                                  £1,352.1
Fidelity                                      £1,293.0
Threadneedle                            £1,278.1

Top ten managers by net retail sales in Q1 2014 (£m)

Old Mutual Global Investors     £857.0
Standard Life Inv                     £642.5
Henderson                               £619.6
Artemis                                     £509.3
Schroders                                 £482.8
Kames                                      £431.0
Royal London                           £414.9
Barings                                     £361.7
Baillie Gifford                            £264.5
Legal & General                       £263.9