Advance hires fledgling small cap manager
By Lachlan Gilbert
AdvanceFunds Managementhas launched a new small caps fund and hired specialist manager Jenkins Investment Management as its portfolio manager.
Advance believes that with many small caps funds closing to new investors after reaching their optimal sizes, there is renewed demand for new players on the investment block to make an impact in the small cap sector.
In recent times,Perpetual,INGandJB Werehave all limited access to their respective small cap funds after reaching what they considered an optimal size.
Jenkins will manage Advance’s Australian Smaller Companies Fund with an aim to provide long-term capital growth over five years, investing in smaller listed companies with a market capitalisation of around $1.2 billion.
Jenkins, which began operations in 1998 and has $150 million under management, is described by managing director Paul Jenkins as “traditional value biased”.
The manager has outperformed the Small Ordinaries index by more than eight per cent in the past 12 months.
Advance head of marketing and products Eammon Roles says Jenkins’ track record as a small cap manager was one of the reasons it was selected to manage Advance’s small caps fund.
“Jenkins is an emerging Australian equities manager with a specialisation in small companies and a three-year track record delivering strong and consistent active returns for clients,” Roles says.
The new Advance fund aims to outperform the Small Ordinaries index by five per cent, before fees, and was opened to investors on August 19, 2002.
Recommended for you
Centrepoint Alliance has the opportunity to sneak up from behind while the three major licensees are distracted as chief executive John Shuttleworth tells Money Management that it aims to “be stable in a sea of turmoil”.
The financial advice profession has seen double-digit adviser losses over the past week, including six advisers who departed Australia’s largest advice licensee.
Regal Partners has grown funds under management to $12.2 billion and flagged it may consider smaller bolt-on acquisitions, having withdrawn a bid last year for Pacific Current Group.
BT is offering its first private markets managed account on the BT Panorama platform as interest in alternatives grow among high-net-worth investors.