Specialist Australian equities wholesale fund manager Adam Smith Asset Management (ASAM) is to launch a retail funds management business next month.
Yield Capital Investors will operate as a separate public company, under its own Australian Financial Services Licence, initially to distribute ASAM’s wholesale fund offerings in the retail space.
The Yield Little Gems Trust and Yield Smaller Companies Trust will be available to retail investors through Yield at a minimum investment of $10,000.
These funds will invest in the Adam Smith MicroCap Fund and Adam Smith Small Company Fund, respectively, which have a minimum investment of $500,000.
ASAM chief operating officer Tim Gapes, who is also managing director of Yield, said strong investor demand was behind the launch of the new retail brand.
“We’ve had to turn away a lot of potential investors in the four years since the launch of ASAM who have not been able to meet the $500,000 minimum investment.
“Now those same retail investors will have the opportunity to invest in the ASAM funds via our new retail distribution business.”
Gapes said Yield intends to roll out a number of new products over time, and potentially use Yield’s status as a separate brand from ASAM to distribute other fund managers’ products.
“There could well be international equities fund managers that want to utilise Yield’s retail distribution capability in Australia.”
The launch of Yield follows ASAM’s first foray into the retail sector last November, when it was appointed to manage the new Great Southern Funds Management fund, GSFM All Caps Australian Share Fund.
Launched in 2003 by Peter Mouatt and Michael Glennon, ASAM manages about $450 million in Australian equity mandates for a number of institutional clients.
