Putnam moves to Equity Trustees
Equity Trustees (EQT) has boosted its responsible entity (RE) business by signing up Putnam and an additional two US fund managers entering the Australian market.
Putnam will initially be distributing fixed interest and global equities funds, with EQT Funds Management providing the RE services, including compliance and regulatory reporting.
EQT Funds Management general manager Harvey Kalman said his company was now working with Putnam to enable an early delivery of the products to the market.
“Putnam chose EQT as RE because of the changes at BT, and we have also secured another client from those changes — Voyager,” he said.
“We will be acting as RE for Voyager as they move towards launching a pan-Asian hedge fund for both the retail and wholesale markets.”
BT will distribute the new Voyager fund, which uses an absolute style of management.
Cohen & Steers and Highland Capital Management have also selected EQT as their responsible entity.
New York based Cohen & Steers has launched a hedged and unhedged real estate investment trust (REIT) fund in Australia.
“Property is becoming a global investment and we no longer differentiate between domestic and international,” Kalman said.
“Today, the property investment market is divided into direct and indirect products.”
The new global trust will be distributed in Australia to institutional investors by Ambassador Funds Management Services, which will also be handling Dallas-based Highland Capital Management’s new fund.
Highland will also offer a distressed assets fund that will soon be available for institutional investors.
EQT is also to provide RE services to Armytage Private, which is looking to raise $50 million from retail investors for a new Australian equities fund.
EQT now acts as RE for more than 15 local and international fund managers, and for some funds, such as SG Hiscock and Pimco, it also handles retail distribution.
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