Appearing on an upcoming podcast episode of Relative Return, Pella Funds Management founder Jordan Cvetanovski shared his insight into setting up asset management firm Pella in 2021.
Cvetanovksi and colleague Steven Glass previously worked together at Pengana Capital Group where Cvetanovski was the chief investment officer and portfolio manager, and Glass was the deputy portfolio manager on the Pengana International Fund and Pengana International Ethical Fund.
They announced their departure from Pengana in March 2021, and Pella was founded in October 2021.
When it came to making the move to starting up their own business and global equity fund called Pella Global Generations, the pair felt they could offer a style of product unique to the market.
The fund is a portfolio of 30–50 highly cash flow generative businesses that are growing, attractively valued with fortress balance sheets and outstanding ESG credentials.
“It’s always a brave call to make a move from something where things are more comfortable, where there’s infrastructure and a lot of things are taken care of for you. But every company you have ever heard had to make that decision and say ‘I’m starting this business’.
“We thought we had a product, a process, a philosophy that was unique in the market, and we thought there was an audience for that style of product, and that it made a lot of sense that a separate company should exist to offer it.”
Another area that he’s keen to focus on is being a responsible manager – the firm recently attained B Corp certification. It is important, he said, for products in the firm’s range to not conflict with each other when it comes to investing responsibly. At Pengana, the pair had run both an international and an international ethical fund.
“It’s difficult to do this properly unless you are entirely focused on that and everything must be aligned. We think this is a focused firm. The product has a philosophy, the fund has a philosophy, and the people that run the product should share that philosophy.”
As for what advice he would give to other fund managers looking to strive on their own, he shared lessons from his experience.
“It’s not an easy road, you have to be brave. You have to have some believers behind you and believe in what you have to offer. When we set up, we said: ‘We have a methodology, we have a process, we have a team that works well together, and we can achieve the result the market wants.’
“You take it one step at a time and get through all the phases, and before you know it, suddenly there’s a brand out there that didn’t exist three years ago and that’s wonderful,” he said.
“You have to have that singular focus and really believe that you are doing work, that the market needs it, and you have to run through walls to get there.”
Click here to listen to the Relative Return podcast.
