GE on relationship building tour down under

GE Asset Management has launched a fact finding and relationship building mission into Australia, with president and chief executive Jay Ireland touring the country. He will meet with potential institutional clients ahead of GE’s planned expansion into Australia in the near future.

GE is targeting corporate, institutional and government clients — particularly superannuation funds, Ireland said.

“We’re talking to everybody, as broadly as we can, and seeing who would have interest partnering with us. Around the globe we have endowments, public funds, corporate funds — if they’re interested in our strategies then we’re interested in getting to them,” he said.

Funds invested with GE would be managed along with GE’s pension money, and clients would benefit from experts on the ground in each country where funds were invested, he said.

“We’re probably the only global asset manager that’s part of a global industrial and financial services company. That dynamic gives us a capability of leveraging the global network of technology, country managers, business leaders, et cetera.”

This meant GE was able to gain a key understanding of what’s going on in emerging markets, Ireland said.

“If we’re interested in what’s going on in Eastern Europe, we have a network of GE Capital guys who are in there who can talk to our internal guys and get a more granular [understanding of] what’s going on in these areas of the world. We can talk about a technology that a competitor might have and get our guys’ view on it. It’s really about utilising that expertise,” he said.

It was important to note GE’s alignment of interest, Ireland added, with company funds invested along with client funds.

“In our view [we have] a unique proposition. I think it will resonate with some and not with others. That’s why the way we’ve decided to come to market is for me to come first, and talk to the people we’ve set up meetings with and talk about our strategy and our culture rather than talking about products.”

The most important goal of the trip was to raise awareness and understanding of GE’s business in Australia, so that further trips down the track could look at specifics and involve discussions about products, Ireland said.

“Right now it’s just to get us known, but more to get us known for how and what we do rather than what we offer,” Ireland said.