Singapore-based asset manager, Milltrust International Group, founded by Simon Hopkins in January 2011, has launched an innovative range of emerging market UCITS funds, ad
Singapore-based asset manager, Milltrust International Group, founded by Simon Hopkins in January 2011, has launched an innovative range of emerging market UCITS funds, advised by its London affiliate, Milltrust International LLP. The managed account platform has been established in partnership with State Street confirmed Hopkins, who commented: “These funds are in every instance advised by the best local asset managers we can identify in the emerging markets world.” Eric Anderson, managing partner of the London affiliate, said that some of the better performers in the future would be in the faster growing capital markets of smaller regional economies within ASEAN, Latin America and Africa, adding that the firm expected to announce the appointment of a “significant partner” to manage its ASEAN offering imminently. “Our platform approach allows our investors to have all the benefits of diversification across geographies and managers, yet also allows them to express their own macro views by controlling the weightings of their allocations across the different funds and geographies,” said Anderson.
Milltrust launched three Dublin-domiciled funds in June covering Greater China, Brazil and Latin America. The managed accounts offer daily pricing and weekly dealing and are managed by Hong Kong-listed asset manager, Value Partners, Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual, and Latin America’s largest bank, Banco Itau. The Milltrust India and Milltrust ASEAN funds are due to launch in September. “We are also working towards the establishment of a pan-African equities manager with a leading African investment group,” commented Hopkins, earmarking a launch in Q1 2013. “By then the platform will serve as a single fiduciary for six world-class investment managers.”
LUMA Solutions Services Limited (LUMA), a subsidiary of Gottex Solutions Services which operates a leading European platform offering managed account services for UCITS funds (as well as European onshore and offshore funds), announced this week it had engaged in a strategic non-exclusive partnership with Southport Harbor Associates (SHA) to act as its platform representative in the US. SHA is a leading investor-driven consulting and marketing platform for hedge funds. In the partnership, SHA will participate in the distribution capabilities within the US for managers on the LUMA platform, as well as source compelling managers. Greg Troccoli, Global Head of Business Development for LUMA Solutions Services, said that Southport Harbor’s investor-driven approach to the marketing of managers fitted “very well within our strategy, helping provide the infrastructure and support to grow the managers on the LUMA platform”.
“The partnership with LUMA is further testament to the success of Southport Harbor’s unique model that presents compelling hedge fund offerings tailored to the mandates of the institutional investors with whom we work,” added Steven Simmons, Global Head of Sales for Southport Harbor Associates.
Renaissance Asset Managers is to give its Russia Infrastructure Equities Limited (REIL) fund a UCITS-compliant structure, transferring most of the portfolio to a newly incorporated open-ended UCITS scheme reported Investment Europe this week. Under the UCITS wrapper it will improve the fund’s liquidity profile and also reduce the discount to NAV per share, at which it currently trades. Chairman David Clark said that there remains “significant potential” for Russian infrastructure investment to deliver superior returns. “However, in the current market conditions, the existing structure does not provide the best vehicle for ensuring shareholders benefit fully from the value creation we are seeing.” Russia is expected to spend USD5.4trillion on transport infrastructure over the next 20 years. Currently, the REIL fund is managed as a closed-ended investment vehicle domiciled in Guernsey. The UCITS fund is to be registered in Luxembourg once official approval has been granted.
Finally, Mirabaud Asset Management has hired three emerging market specialists to join its London team in anticipation of the launch of an emerging markets fund reported Citywire Global this week. The three individuals include: Victor Benavides, a Latin America equity specialist with French boutique shop Amiral Gestion; Neville Shaw of Baring Asset Management, who specialized in EMEA equities, and Charles Walsh, Hermes’ fund manager and South Asian specialist. The new trio will work alongside Daniel Tubbs, BlackRock’s former co-head of emerging markets who joined the firm in June, on its new fund: Mirabaud Global Emerging Markets, a Lux-domiciled fund. Tubbs commented: “This is a dynamic and focused fund managed by a first-class team, very much in line with Mirabaud’s philosophy, and I’m confident it will be one of many of an exciting new breed of funds being launched out of the London office.”
