* UK fund cash levels at 5-year high - Lipper data
* Some increase cash in case investors seek to redeem
* Others hoping to profit from post-vote volatility
By Simon Jessop
LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - British mutual funds are showingtheir nervousness ahead of Thursday's vote on European Unionmembership by holding more cash than at any time in the pastfive years, although some are also looking to make quick gains.
While the bosses of Aberdeen Asset Management andJupiter Fund Management are among those to have playeddown the impact on their businesses of a vote to leave the EU,many of Britain's money managers worry that billions of poundsheld in UK assets would seek a safer home elsewhere.
Funds have stockpiled cash in order to be able to meet apossible surge in exit requests from spooked investors in theevent of a 'Brexit', but they are also looking to be able tomake quick reallocations of money in the wake of the referendum.
The result is that the mean average cash holding for allUK-based mutual funds at the end of May was 6 percent, itshighest level since November 2011, Thomson Reuters Lipper datashowed.
"Clients are nervous, worried and sitting back on theirheels," Henderson Group Chief Executive Andrew Formicatold reporters on Tuesday.
British funds have had a rough 12 months, shedding 18percent of their assets, or 38 billion pounds ($56 billion),Lipper data showed.
If Britons do vote to leave the EU, this could increasenegative investor sentiment and add to their woes.
Uncertainty has already taken its toll, with daily polls andbookmakers odds showing conflicting data that has in turn drivengyrations in currency, stock and bond markets.
While concerns are particularly acute for UK-focusedmanagers, fears of contagion to Europe and elsewhere at a timeof slowing growth in China and the faltering effect of ultraloose monetary policy mean managers globally have also ratchetedup their cash holdings ahead of the British vote.
The Lipper data follows a survey of global fund managers byBank of America Merrill Lynch last week which showed cashholdings were at their highest level since 2001.
At a time when fund managers across the world are beingtaken to task over high fees and poor performance, hoarding cashcan irk savers who want their money put to work.
But with sterling, bonds and equities all having thepotential to move sharply after the vote, some are positioningthemselves for any potential bargains which could boost returnsafter a tough first half.
"With euro zone bonds at negative yields, holding cashshould only be tactical in the hope of buying other assetscheaper," said Neil Dwane, Global Strategist at German insurerAllianz's fund arm, Allianz Global Investors.($1 = 0.6825 pounds) (Editing by Sinead Cruise and Alexander Smith)
