The London based asset manager for the Montello Income Fund, has set up a fund distribution arm that will focus on promoting alternative investments.
Montello Distribution will be headed up by new recruit, Andrew Wood, who has over 10 years experience working in the financial services industry and has significant fundraising experience in London and Zurich.
Last year a report from PwC and Caceis revealed that the Fund distribution model in the UK is quite different to the rest of Europe, where the vast majority of fund sales are through retail and private banks. However in the UK, fund sales through retail and private banks only account for just over 2% of sales. The vast majority of fund sales in the UK are through IFAs. However, there are very few fund distributors in the UK that focus on providing quality specialist alternative funds and knowledge to IFAs.
Managing Director of Montello, Ian Sutherland says: “We are pleased to have someone of Andrew Wood’s calibre join the Montello team. He brings a wealth of knowhow given his successful fundraising previously in Zurich and London.”
Managing Director of Montello, Christian Faes (pictured), adds: “As we are now seeing significant interest in our Montello Income Fund, we thought that it made perfect sense to establish a fund distribution arm to focus on the sales of this Fund and to look at other possible opportunities in this space.”
Christian Faes says: “We are positioning the Montello Income Fund as the leading real estate bridging finance fund in the UK, which provides a higher return from a more conservative risk profile than any of the other bridging finance funds – and the IFA community is starting to recognise this.”