APAC fund manager Nikko Asset Management has announced its plan to rebrand as Amova Asset Management.
From 1 September 2025, the firm will be known as Amova Asset Management which, it said, will reflect its path forward and global growth strategy.
The Japanese firm, which was founded in 1959, has a presence in 11 countries, including in Australia via a 20 per cent stake and board representation in Yarra Capital Management.
Yarra acquired the Australian business of Nikko AM in April 2021 which helped to expand Nikko’s distribution capacity in Australia. The Australian fixed income business was rebranded under Yarra, while its Australian equities business was rebranded as Tyndall Asset Management and sits separately to Yarra’s style-neutral Australian equities business.
In a statement, the firm said: “The new name is an amalgam of the concepts behind the new name with the first two letters ‘Am’ standing for the firm’s core business Asset Management. ‘Mov’ refers to movement – the nimbleness and innovation to steer clients towards their objectives in the constantly changing investment landscape by offering superior investment solutions.
“‘Ova’ draws inspiration from ‘nova’ which means ‘new’ in Latin, as global teams explore new frontiers and provide progressive solutions to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving financial environment.”
The change is subject to shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting on 26 September 2024.
The renaming of the business does not impact its ownership, it will remain a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group.
Nikko AM is one of Asia’s largest asset managers with US$240 billion ($360 billion) in assets under management as of 31 March 2024 across active equity, fixed income, multi-asset and alternative strategies.
Earlier this year, Perpetual announced it will be rebranding its business following the divestment of its corporate trust and wealth management businesses to KKR. The sale also includes the 138-year-old Perpetual branding, which will mean the remaining standalone asset management business needs to be rebranded from 31 December 2025.
Past asset management rebrands have included Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM) rebranding as First Sentier Investors in 2019, Investec rebranding as Ninety One in 2020, and ETF Securities rebranding as Global X in 2022.
