Rothschild Australia Asset Managementis set to enter into three new strategic alliances where it will outsource its global fixed interest, global listed property and global multi-manager private equity portfolios to a host of international fund managers.
The joint venture alliances, believed to be with US based managers, are all expected to be completed by the first half of next year, although a formal announcement on at least two of the alliances could be made within the next month.
The joint ventures will mirror the arrangements Rothschild already has with US based Putnam Investments and Grosvenor Capital Management.
Rothschild entered into an alliance to outsource its international equities portfolios to Putnam in 1999, and has since heralded the partnership as a model for its future international funds management capabilities.
Last month, Rothschild launched a global fund-of-hedge funds after shoring up an alliance with Grosvenor, one of the oldest fund-of-fund managers in the US.
Rothschild chief executive Peter Martin says the alliances are a key part of the group’s strategy to compete in a market where its major competitors are increasingly of global scale.
“There is a lot of value to be added by packaging the investment expertise of others into Rothschild products,” Martin says.
The three new alliances come as Rothschild is looking decidedly upbeat about the prospects of the world’s equity markets over the coming year.
Rothschild chief investment officer Jonathan Pain says the US economy, bolstered by a significant fiscal stimulus and massive monetary accommodation, could lead global stock markets out of their respective doldrums.
“We are all on the doorstep of a massive improvement in the US economy. We might be in the eye of the storm, but the storm is moving,” Pain says.
