Ascalon explores new option
John Aldersley
Ascalon Capital Managers, a joint venture between St George Bank and Kaplan Equity, has acquired a 40 per cent stake in separately managed account (SMA) specialist Explorer Group.
Ascalon’s area of expertise is the incubation and commercialisation of boutique investment managers and has investments in six boutiques.
Explorer is the holding company of Direct Portfolio Services, which offers the SMA products DirectPortfolio and ShareInvest.
Explorer managing director John Aldersley said the new relationship would assist in the business’ potential to grow as a major contender in the SMA space by “bringing stability to the register, and enormously strengthening our creditability and, thus, opportunities in the market”.
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