THE Guardian Media Group is straying further from its Manchester newspaper roots by pumping more than £100m into a fund designed to target investments outside the media industry.

It is the latest move by GMG chief executive Carolyn McCall to guarantee the future of the group’s loss-making flagship titles, The Guardian and The Observer.

The group has around £350m left to play with after partnering Apax in the £1.1 billion purchase of Emap’s business-publishing arm, a deal that closed last week.

McCall initially had £675m to invest following the sale last year of a half-share in car title Auto Trader, also to Apax.

Her plan is to lessen the group’s dependence on advertising and the UK economy.

GMG is owned by the Scott Trust, whose mission is to protect forever the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian.

The fund, which is yet to distribute any money, will be run by Cambridge Associates, which will present proposals to GMG’s investment committee.

“It is another way of diversifying the portfolio; a conscious way of investing money with much less risk,” McCall said.

It is most likely to sink cash into a mixture of dependable equities and gilts, and avoid investments that are deemed to be unethical.

McCall added: “Cambridge knows the kind of organisation we are. The investment committee will be asking questions.”

GMG’s approach mirrors that of the Daily Mail’s parent company, which has invested heavily in information businesses that model risk for insurance clients and monitor power station output. McCall is also looking for further acquisitions.

GMG is close to buying a small software provider to the property industry that will sit alongside two it already owns.

It has appointed group nonexecutives Amelia Fawcett, who was formerly vice-chairman of Morgan Stanley’s European business, and Nick Backhouse, the finance director of NCP Services, to sit on the investment committee.

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