Rothschild Australia Asset Managementhas formed a strategic alliance to outsource the management of its global fixed interest investments to the New York based BlackRock group.
In what is the third such alliance for Rothschild, BlackRock will take over the management of all of Rothschild’s global fixed interest exposure from June this year.
BlackRock, a publicly listed company, has some $US238 billion of assets under management, over $US140 billion of which is in fixed interest.
The new alliance comes just one month after theWestpac Bankagreed to pay $323 million to buy Rothschild.
A spokesperson for Rothschild says discussions with BlackRock began well before Westpac had been confirmed as the buyer for the group.
According to the spokesperson, the alliance with BlackRock was put on hold while Rothschild completed its negotiations with a range of would-be buyers, some of whom had their own global fixed interest capacity.
“Some of the businesses we were talking to did have their own global fixed interest capabilities, Westpac did not,” the spokesperson says.
The alliance with BlackRock mirrors the strategic alliances Rothschild already has with Putnam and Grosvenor Capital Management.
Putnam, the fourth largest mutual fund company in the US, manages international equities for Rothchild, while the Chicago based Grosvenor manages Rothschild’s hedge fund, the Rothschild Global Return Fund.
Rothschild is also set to strike at least two more strategic alliance partnerships with offshore groups.
The first, with a global listed property specialist, is expected within a month.
Retail investors will have access to BlackRock through Rothschild’s balanced funds.
Rothschild is also planning to launch a wholesale global fixed interest unit trust, which the group will distribute to retail investors through master trusts.
