Former AMP Capital Investors executive Michael Evans has surfaced in the market to co-launch a new boutique investment group – Quest Asset Partners – along with former AMP small cap portfolio manager Chris Cahill.
Both Evans and Cahill departed AMP in April, with the latter signalling at the time his plans to launch a boutique asset management venture later in the year, however the pair had to wait for the expiration of a three month non-compete clause with their former employer.
It was expected that the venture would be in the small caps space, however Cahill said Quest, which will initially pitch to institutions with plans to target the high net worth space once established, will offer absolute return concentrated portfolios using both the ASX Top 50 and ex-50 universes.
“There are too many people swimming in that [small caps] pond at the moment,” Cahill told Money Management yesterday.
The new venture will be based in Sydney with plans to launch on August 16, however the group is still awaiting confirmation of its Australian Financial Services License from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
“We’ve done the institutional thing and now we’re looking forward to being small. We felt there has been an increasing need for absolute return managers that take no need from indices,” Cahill said.
Cahill said the concentrated portfolios will hold no more than 20 stocks each.
At AMP, Evans was replaced internally with senior portfolio manager John Whiteman stepping into the role shortly after his departure earlier in the year, while Cahill was replaced more recently by UBS Global Asset Management small cap portfolio manager Michael Cowin.
