Joint ventures pay for Australian Unity

David Bryant

Australian Unity Investments has reported a 45 per cent leap in funds under management to $6.4 billion for the 12 months ending December.

In December 2006, the fund manager had $4.4 billion of funds under management.

Head of funds management at Australian Unity Investments David Bryant said the growth was driven by its joint venture partners — Platypus, Vianova and Acorn.

There was also strong growth in the fund manager’s mortgage and property funds during the year, he said.

“The mortgage and property funds continue to be very popular with investors and have experienced net inflows of more than $450 million during the past year,” Bryant said.

“However, our joint venture partners have really taken off, attracting strong interest from both institutional and retail investors and growing funds under management by $840 million in the second half of 2007.”

While 2007 was a boom year for fund managers, the next 12 months are going to be harder, especially for start ups, he admitted.

“It will not be a good time for asset managers to consider setting up their own businesses unless they have the support of a strong institution to provide the necessary backing to see them through less predictable times,” Bryant said.

“It will be a time when our joint venture approach will have a lot of appeal for fund managers wanting to set up their own operations but are looking for a larger institution to stand behind them.”

However, those established managers with good performance records would survive, as investors will still seek these managers, he said.

“The Platypus Australian Equities Trust returned more than 30 per cent for the year to December 31, which is well above the index,” Bryant said.