Theonly part of theBT Funds Management(BTFM) group not to merge with Westpac, the direct and listed property groups, are set to re-establish themselves in the retail market under the Principal banner through the rollout of a new fund.
The BTFM property arm was retained by the Principal Financial Group when the group was purchased by Westpac and took on the Principal Global Investors (PGI) name for the Australian market.
PGI is slated to receive a managed investments licence early next month and will follow that up with the rollout of a new fund focusing on property securities.
The fund has been seeded with $25 million of Principal’s own money and will be taken to the retail market through master trust and wrap platforms.
PGI head of client services Richard Borysiewicz says the group will work with around eight platforms this year in the area of listed property and is confident of its performance compared to its peers.
“We have good performance and better liquidity than our competitors and have been in the top quartile in any time frame over the past four years,” Borysiewicz says.
PGI has a substantial presence in the listed property market with $4.5 billion in funds under management, with about $1.5 billion of that in the Principal Office Fund.
The launch of the new fund early next month is only the second piece of new business for Principal since the move away from BTFM.
The first occurred in November last year with the rollout of a development fund with the St Hilliers group.
Borysiewicz says Principal has kept a small manufacturing section in the local operations but for the time being would not focus on local fixed interest products.
“We agreed to a non-compete clause for 18 months, which means we cannot do Australian fixed interest but we are still offering our full range of global fixed interest products,” Borysiewicz says.
