US-based fund manager Janus Capital has established its inaugural presence in the local investment market with the opening of a Melbourne office.
The manager has appointed former Bank of Ireland Asset Management senior manager John Landau to the role of head of Australia to run the Melbourne office.
The move will allow the manager to service local investors who have shown interest in the past, but whose funds had not been accepted by the manager due to its client servicing philosophy.
Janus Capital chief executive Erich Gerth said: “We feel if you can’t service clients appropriately then you really have to shy away from these expressions of interest. Now with having John here, who understands the local market, and with the Hong Kong infrastructure we can better service these clients.”
“If we look at any markets, unless we have teams there we won’t take mandates there because if you can’t handle them appropriately you can end up with a reputation you don’t want in a certain market,” he explained.
Janus will offer investors a range of funds using its Enhanced Investment Technologies (EIT) mathematically-based stock selection approach.
“The method includes a volatility capture strategy. It starts from the premise that the index isn’t the most efficient portfolio. What we’re making our outperformance from is the volatility between stocks and the correlation between stocks,” Landau said.
“So we’re looking to outperform through capturing the volatility of the natural trading activity of the market. As other people buy and sell we’re adding value over time. It’s totally different to what quantitative and more fundamental managers are doing,” he added.
Investors will be offered 14 global equity managed funds using the EIT methodology along with three other US equity funds.
The range of products includes coverage of several asset classes including fixed income and US real estate investment trusts.
While Janus Capital is predominantly a wholesale fund manager, retail investors will have access to its products through existing multi-manager products in the market.
