The investment team of Agilis Investment Management, a specialist multi-strategy investment manager, is to join RWC Partners.
The move will see Agilis founder Clark Fenton, along with colleagues Charles Crowson and Praveen Kanakamedala, joining RWC to form the RWC Diversified Return team.
Prior to founding Agilis, Fenton served as co-CIO of Permal Group, one of Europe’s most successful diversified fund of hedge funds. He started his career working in capital markets, primarily at Morgan Stanley.
Crowson joined Agilis from the hedge fund Mason Capital Management. Kanakamedela, who manages operations, risk and compliance for the firm, joined Fenton and Crowson from Permal where he was Global Head of Risk Management and Chair of the Risk Committee. Together the team have been responsible for the Protea Fund – Agilis UCITS, a multi-strategy portfolio which takes both long and short positions across fixed income, equity and commodity markets.
The move represents a significant opportunity for RWC and Fenton’s team. It allows RWC to add a high-quality and well-regarded team whose strategy offers investors a simple and cost-effective way to add diversification to their portfolios. The team will be able to focus purely on their investment strategy and work with RWC to broaden the range of clients with whom they engage.
In conjunction with the move, the current Agilis Luxembourg UCITS fund will become a sub-fund of RWC Funds, a Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS umbrella fund.
The agreement is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close late in the third quarter of 2019.
Dan Mannix, Chief Executive at RWC Partners, says: “Investors need strategies that diversify their risk away from core equity and fixed income assets. The drive for alternatives continues to grow and Clark and his team have designed an innovative investment approach which offers an uncorrelated solution with the benefits of low cost, frequent liquidity and simplicity.
“The strategy enhances the breadth of our capabilities and will help meet the increasing demand from investors for strategies that have a low correlation with their core equity and bond portfolios.”
Clark Fenton, Managing Partner & CIO, says: “From the launch of Agilis we have built our fund and investment process to meet the increasing challenges facing investors wanting to add a genuinely diversifying asset to their portfolios.
“By joining RWC we will be able to focus on continuing to build and strengthen our investment proposition.”
