International fund tops $1 billion

New Zealanders’ growing appetite for overseas investment has paid dividends for AMP Asset Management (AMPAM) as its listed international investment vehicle topped $1 billion.

New Zealanders’ growing appetite for overseas investment has paid dividends for AMP Asset Management (AMPAM) as its listed international investment vehicle topped $1 billion.

The World Index New Zealand (WiNZ) fund, AMPAM’s passive international share fund, is now the largest listed investment fund in the country after only two years on the market.

Originally listing at $1.10 WiNZ shares are now trading close to $2, representing a return of almost 50 per cent per year.

AMPAM managing director, Murray Gribben, says the WiNZ fund has surpassed expec-tations, growing four times faster than initially projected.

“The driving point for it is that New Zealanders are investing a lot more offshore, simply because they have gone for diversification,” Gribben says.

WiNZ has benefited both from the strongly performing US markets and the fall in the New Zealand dollar over the past two years.

AMPAM has also launched a new private capital fund hoping to raise $100 million from wholesale and retail investors with at least $30,000 loose change.

The fund, AMP Private Capital, will complement AMPAM’s other inhouse private capi-tal fund and the two funds will co-invest in seven or eight projects.

AMP private capital head, Martin Turner, says the fund aims to offer returns at least 5 per cent above listed markets. AMP Private Capital is described as a 10 year, closed end fund but investors should see their first returns after five years. The fund will target firms with a large market share in growth industries.

Turner says Pencarrow Asset Management and other niche fund managers will be used to make the investments for the new fund. Pencarrow also handled many of the first fund’s investments which range from a coolstore company to a discount clothing store.