The Moore the Better We invited Jon Trigg, Head of European Fund Services at Moore Management, to talk us through the firm and its dedication to client services.
www.acquisition-intl.com
welcome
to the 2016 International Fund Awards
As the global financial arena continues to evolve and diversify across all sectors, the worldwide funds industry is proving to be home to some of the most innovative and forward-thinking firms and individuals anywhere in the business world. Forced to contend with myriad factors that shape and dictate their industry, from the continued economic recovery and increased bank intervention, to the demand for new products and changes to laws and regulation, the professionals in the global funds industry continue to show the way when it comes to identifying previously untapped areas for growth and diversification. Through these awards, we aim to highlight not only the funds that, despite the often unpredictable climate in which they operate, have managed to achieve remarkable results, but also the managers, advisors and wealth management specialists whose expertise and experience make them the first port of call for savvy investors.
contents 4. Angus Moore Wealth Management Limited has won Best Global Fund Investment Plan 6. Augentius Fund Administration has won Specialist Fund Administrator of the Year 8. L Catterton has won Best Global Consumer-Focused Investment Firm 2016 10. CUDOS Capital AG has won Best Small-Cap PE Platform - Europe & Best European First-Time PE Fund: CUDOS Entrepreneurs’ Fund I 12. Globaleye Pte Ltd has won Best for Private Wealth Management - Singapore 14. John Locke Investments has won Alternative Asset Management Firm of the Year - France & Best European/US Equity Market Neutral Fund (3 Years): JL Equity Market Neutral (UCITS) Fund 16. Keills Limited has won Best Specialist Property Fund Manager - UK & Best Exempt Property Unit Trust: Keills Property Trust 19. Margetts Fund Management Ltd. has won Best for Risk Rated Multi-Manager Funds 20. Moore Management has won Best Alternative Fund Administrator - Channel Islands 22. Pristine Advisers has won Best Investment Fund Marketer - USA 24. Revetas Capital Advisors LLP has won Best for Real Estate Asset Management - Central Europe 26. The Pensions Trust has won Best DB Pensions Provider - UK 28. Second Alpha Partners has won Best Private Equity Secondaries Investor 2016 29. Star Capital Management has won Best Diversified Multi-Strategy VC Fund: Star Capital Fund 30. Akina Ltd has won Best SME European Private Equity Firm - Switzerland 32. Allianz Global Investors GmbH has won Germany Equity Market-Neutral Manager of the Year & Best Equity Long/Short Manager of the Year - Germany 33. Allied Wallet LTD has won Most Innovative Payment Service Provider 2016 34. Banque Pâris Bertrand Sturdza (PBS) has won Most Innovative Multi-Asset Strategies 2016 35. Bedell Fund Services has won Sustained Excellence in International Fund Services - Channel Islands 36. BMO Global Asset Management has won Multi-Strategy Asset Management Team of the Year & Best Actively Managed Multi-Strategy Fund: F&C Diversified Growth Fund 37. UBS Investment Bank - Private Funds Group has won Best Global Placement Agents 2016 38. Close Brothers has won Best UK Growth Fund: Close Brothers Regional Growth Fund (RGF) Asset Purchase Scheme 39. Concord International Investments has won Best Egyptian Securities Fund Manager 2016 40. Duet Group has won Best African Private Equity Transaction 2015 (SAPLED) 41. Eiffel Investment Group has won Award for Excellence in Absolute Return Strategies - France 42. Heng Ren Investments LP has won Best China-Focused Long-Term Active Asset Manager & Best Multi-Sector Small Cap Hedge Fund (Since Inception): Heng Ren Investments LP 44. J8 Capital Management LLP has won Best Systematic Global Absolute Return Fund (3 Years): J8 Futures Fund & Recognised Leader in Liquid, Diversified & Systematic Investments 45. Jive Investments has won Best Investment Management Firm 2016 - Brazil 46. JMH Asset Management has won Best New Absolute Return Fund: JMH Absolute Return SICAV SIF & Most Innovative Fund Managers 2016 47. Old Mutual Alternative Investments has won Best Alternative Fund: African Infrastructure Investment Fund 48. Paris Capital Advisors has won Best Relative Value Fund (1 year): The Paris Capital Relative Value Master Fund Ltd 49. Parus Finance has won Client Choice Award: Best Investment Management Firm 2016 50. STRATIGIS Capital Advisors has won Best Boutique Portfolio Management Firm - Canada 51. Strategic Industrial Capital Partners has won Best Specialist Energy Investment Platform 52. Thalia SA has won Most Innovative FoHF Platform 2016: Thalìa Alternative Sicav (TAS) 53. Towry has won Best Multi-Asset Class Investment Portfolio Manager - UK 54. Venus Capital Management, Inc. has won Emerging Market Institutional Money Management Firm of the Year 2016 & Best India SME Fund: Venus India Structured Finance Fund
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Best Global Fund Investment Plan
A subsidiary of Fortuna Group Holding (Hong Kong ) Co. Limited, Angus Moore Wealth Management Limited offering Global Fund of Funds (FoF), management and bespoke family solutions. We invited Fortuna’s CEO Janet and Manton Wai, the Head of Investment & Research at Fortuna, to provide us with an overview of the firm and a glimpse into the firm’s future.
Company: Angus Moore Wealth Management Limited (A subsidiary of Fortuna Holding Group (Hong Kong) Company Limited Name: Janet Yeung Email: info@amgroup.com.hk Web Address: http://www.fortunaholding.com/ Address: Units 2617-18, 26/F, Miramar Tower, 132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong Telephone: +(852) 3915 0998
Angus Moore specialise in quantitative analysing over 6000 Funds in Hong Kong and China, 1000 Hedge Funds across the Globe. We have built our own fund screening models and our investment team will interview more than 150 Fund Managers every year to access the quality of the manager to explore further opportunities for our clients. As a business we have an extensive partnership with more than 170 financial institutes, private banks, trustee, legal and taxation adviser, etc. across the globe, and also we have registered our own private equity licence in Qianhai, which brings an exclusive edge to our firm and enables us to assist our clients, by providing tailor made packages to solve any financial problems, both domestically and internationally. In addition, we have established our unique internet platform to enable our customers and business partners to receive the most updated news, knowledge and financial solutions without boundaries. With the aid of our unique platform, we are able to provide extensive and comprehensive training and support to our business partners anywhere, anytime. This shapes the culture of Fortuna Group and ensures competitiveness, efficiency and high mobility, so that everyone working for the firm can fully develop their talents to growth with the company. Recently the firm’s portfolio has been performing well, as despite the massive drawdown in the EM and commodity markets, our portfolio has a very tough risk control mechanism, which has already demonstrated the ability to protect our client portfolio from the extreme market risk. This strong performance comes during an interesting time for China’s wealth management industry, as 2015 was known as the first true year of Wealth Management era in China. We expect there will be a number of tax reformation in China over the next 5-10 years , as the 1st Generation Entrepreneur reaches 60-80 years old. In the same time, there will be more than three million privately owned enterprises which will enter into the problem of Succession the demand for Wealth Preservation, Medical Protection, Retirement & Succession Planning will come to historical high. In order to ensure our customers can get the most superior service moving forward, we are inviting high calibre business partners to join with us, so as to provide high standard of consultation, customer services and tailor made financial solutions that fits our HNW families’ culture in different regions of China. Additionally we expect our group will grow exponentially in the next firm years. In 2016, we adapted to two key trends; the Internet of Things and the Healthcare Reformation promoted by the China Government Policy. Our Group has already established solid relationships with many key property developers, education institutes, hospitals and medical services providers across the country. Our target is to bring in the concept of “Wealth and Health All together” into more than 500,000 wealthy families in Guangdong and Zhejiang Province in the upcoming years and we have confidence that this strategy will bring Fortuna to another new high. 5
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Specialist Fund Administrator of the Year
Augentius The world of Private Equity and Real Estate has changed more in the last two to three years than it did in the previous decade. Ian Kelly, Chief Executive Officer, Augentius, provides us with a unique client based perspective on these changes.
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Company: Augentius Name: Ian Kelly Web Address: www.augentius.com Address: 2 London Bridge, London, SE1 9RA Telephone: +44 (0)207 397 5450
Augentius has always stayed close to its clients and to the industry as a whole, monitoring market developments and creating new solutions to meet the ever-changing requirements of the industry. This year we wanted to share some of our findings from our annual industry survey, shedding light on the challenges – and opportunities – of the year ahead. A strengthening market climate Our survey responses paint a picture of a broadly improving market climate. More managers feel that conditions have improved over the last year, significantly outnumbering those saying they have got worse. It should be noted, however, that the consensus is less than overwhelming – the rising tide may not be lifting all boats equally. This feeling was most pronounced among US and EMEA-based managers, a slight majority of whom felt the climate improved in 2015. Sentiment was distinctly cooler among our Asia-based respondents, half of which said the climate had remained the same, with only slightly more than a third feeling it had improved. But in both cases only a small minority felt the climate had deteriorated. Taken together, the figures point to a steadily improving market climate for Private Equity and Real Estate globally, with the more mature Western markets leading the charge, and Asia lagging slightly behind. This is further evidenced by our respondents’ outlooks for the year ahead. Among our US and EMEA managers, only a third feel the climate will improve in 2016, with nearly half expecting it to remain on a level with 2015 – suggesting that many feel the improvement has already taken place. On the other hand, a significant majority of our Asia-based managers were optimistic about 2016, anticipating an improvement in conditions this year. Challenges Drilling down into specifics, we asked our managers what their biggest challenges had been in 2015, and what they expect to cause them headaches in the year to come. As you might expect, finding the right deal opportunities ranked highly across all regions, for this year and the last. Fundraising, however, is far more a concern for our US and EMEA respondents than our Asia-based ones, perhaps reflecting the high level of investor demand in the latter region. Ongoing upheaval regarding tax regulation (such as FATCA and the OECD’s BEPS initiative) also remains an area of concern. Interestingly, however, there was a small but significant drop in the number of US and EMEA respondents marking this as a major challenge for 2016, suggesting that some managers in these regions feel the bulk of the work is behind them. By contrast, for our Asia-based respondents the picture is reversed, with tax regulation emerging as the primary challenge for 2016. Across all of our regions, however, market regulation continues to pose a major challenge, reflecting the sheer complexity and upheaval associated with directives such as the AIFMD. Speaking of the AIFMD… Despite (or maybe because of) it being such a major day-to-day headache for many of our respondents, our survey revealed a pretty dim view of the AIFMD. A large majority of respondents feel the Directive fails to fulfil its primary stated objective of protecting investors, and an even larger majority disagree with the assertion that it has strengthened the Private Equity market. Only time will tell whether this sentiment changes as the new regime continues to bed in and become part of the furniture. Technology and outsourcing Of course, it isn’t just regulatory upheaval causing disruption across the world of Private Equity and Real Estate. As the results above show, many managers are continuing to increase spend on technology as well as outsource peripheral activities, so as to better focus the time and resource of their top teams on the core business. This trend is particularly pronounced among our respondents based in less mature Asian markets, where the process perhaps still has further to go. The changing role of the fund administrator It’s not just that managers are looking to outsource more. Our role as a third party provider is changing just as much as the industry we serve, as we continue our evolution from a pure fund administrator to a general solutions provider. Thanks to increased complexity and investor scrutiny, managers are juggling a heavier and more diverse set of tasks than ever before. And thanks to our trusted partner status, and investment in our technology and people, we are able to help.
Note: Augentius is a specialist Private Equity and Real Estate Fund Administrator, currently administering over 370 Funds on behalf of 145 fund management groups. With over 500 staff located in 8 offices throughout US, Europe and Asia Augentius is one of the largest specialist administrators in the world
Our survey showed interest in a number of our additional offerings, including compliance consultancy, tax services, and regulatory reporting. Our US and EMEA respondents expressed most interest in our enhanced investor relations offering, reflecting the fact that this is an increasingly important differentiator for funds in these markets. In our Asia survey, training services topped the list. A similar pattern can be seen in the responses to what managers value most from their administrator, with specialism and strength of technology platform scoring highly. Quality service, however, is impossible to deliver without quality people – and this emerged as a key value for almost all of our respondents. This is why we’ve invested so heavily in our people, and created one of the best teams around in terms of talent and expertise. 7
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Best Global Consumer-Focused Investment Firm 2016
Since 1989, L Catterton has made over 100 investments in leading consumer brands across all segments of the consumer industry. With $5.5 billion of equity capital dedicated to growing middle market companies and emerging, high-growth enterprises, the firm is the largest and most experienced global consumer-focused private equity group.
Company: L Catterton Website: lcatterton.com
L Catterton, formed in 2016 through the partnership of Catterton, LVMH and Groupe Arnault, is the largest consumer-focused private equity firm in the world. Since its founding in 1989, Catterton has leveraged its category insight, strategic and operating skills, and network of industry contacts to establish one of the strongest private equity investment track records in the middle market. L Catterton builds on this heritage with the addition of LVMH and Groupe Arnault’s existing European and Asian private equity and real estate operations. The firm invests in all major consumer segments, including: food and beverage; retail and restaurants; beauty and wellness; fashion and accessories; consumer products and services; consumer health and media and marketing services, as well as real estate projects anchored by luxury retail. L Catterton’s investments include: Peloton, Restoration Hardware, CorePower Yoga, Sweaty Betty, Outback Steakhouse, Plum Organics, Chopt Creative Salad Company, Mendocino Farms, Noodles & Company, PIADA, Hopdoddy, Vroom, Snap Kitchen, Frederic Fekkai, PIRCH, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Wellness pet food, Nature’s Variety pet food, Kettle Foods, Odwalla, P.F. Chang’s, Ba&sh, Sandro and Maje, CellularLine, Vicinci / Zanotti, Cigierre, Gant, Nutrition and Sante, Pepe Jeans & Hackett, 2XU, Charles & Keith, Marubi, Bateel, Sasseur, Emperor Watch and Jewelry, Miami Design District and G6 in Ginza - Tokyo, to name a few. This wide range of investments highlights the firm’s global reach and diverse portfolio, making L Catterton the ideal choice for investors looking for diverse investment strategies. The firm fosters growth through its strong Operations Team, comprised of in house functional and strategic leaders, as well as a focused team of expert project leaders and associates (“Vault”) and an eco-system of partners with expertise in key supplemental functions (e.g., digital, market research, IT). Together, these resources work closely both with the firm’s investment teams in due diligence to assess growth and improvement opportunities and with their portfolio company executives to act on and capture value across a range of strategic and operational value creation levers. Their work ranges from revenue and growth opportunities such as pricing, product development and e-commerce to cost and capital reduction initiatives such as lean manufacturing, procurement, and IT spend management.
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Best Small-Cap PE Platform - Europe & Best European First-Time PE Fund: CUDOS Entrepreneurs’ Fund I
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CUDOS Capital is a Vienna-based private equity firm dedicated to an entrepreneurial private equity approach. We invited Alon Shklarek and Michael Steiner to provide an insight into the firm and its exemplary investment products. At CUDOS Capital we focus on direct investments in small- and medium-sized companies with revenues between 10 and 100mn EUR, which are located in Central Europe and leading in their field. Our investment approach is industry agnostic, we look at growth cases, restructuring situations and classical buy-outs. The major part of our investment hypothesis is always based on operative value creation as means for growth and profitability. Our investors are typically private individuals, family offices and entrepreneurial fund-of-funds who are seeking high quality investment products. Austria and the german-speaking region of Central Europe is our key target market, and we have found that it is severely underserved by private equity investors. There are few international players which target the midcap segment (+100mn EUR revenue), but almost none active in the small-cap segment. This leaves large untapped potential for CUDOS and laid basis for a profitable last 12 months. The firm’s flagship offering is CUDOS Entrepreneurs’ Fund I, our first-time fund containing our seed portfolio. The fund was designed to prove both the rationale behind our investment strategy and our ability to generate “alpha”, and we believe it has achieved exactly that. The fund is a 2013 vintage and will be closed in the next few weeks. During 2014 and 2015 we saw a number of exciting developments in our fund, including selling our first investment in a trade sale at an IRR of 108% p.a. over two years, or improving profitability in our largest investment by +35%. Additionally, we were able to lay base for further investments, all to be effected on favorable terms and with a large potential to create value jointly with the companies and entrepreneurs we back.
Company: CUDOS Capital AG Name: Alon Shklarek - Founding Partner & CEO Michael Steiner - Partner & Head of Investments Email: alon.shklarek@cudos-group.com michael.steiner@cudos-group.com Web Address: www.cudos-group.com Address: Spiegelgasse 2/26, 1010 Vienna, Austria Telephone: +43 1 360 730
We are currently raising our second fund, CUDOS Entrepreneurs’ Fund II, with a few corner-stone investors already committed. Anticipated fund size will reach approx. EUR 60mn with average investor tickets at EUR 5mn. For CEF II we set ourselves a goal of an IRR of +25% (which also corresponds to the original expectation for CEF I which we will outperform). Overall the economic situation remains uncertain and investors, despite their appetite for PE investments, would rather focus on established and well-known managers than first-timers. Despite this challenge, we were able to secure sufficient funding to build our seed portfolio. We are convinced that our asset class is one of the most attractive ones, given the attractive entry valuation, growth prospects, available risk provisions and overall alpha that we can offer. To achieve this success we adapted the traditional PE business model by offering more entrepreneurial investment terms and employed a broad range of new technologies to gather meaningful insight quickly and make our work more effective. We have also established CUDOS Industry Group, a unit within CUDOS that combines expertise of +20 industry experts that we include in due diligence and value creation work. These people make sure we are firm about the latest developments in each target industry. Through this innovative approach that sets us apart from our competitors, as truly entrepreneurial investors, we are also able to look at more complex investment situations where a significant part of value is already created by making the company investable. Moving forward we are currently commencing fundraising activities for our second fund and are finalizing the first two investments of this vehicle, in order to build upon our current success. In addition we remain committed to innovation and offering a unique service to our investors.
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Best for Private Wealth Management - Singapore
Globaleye
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Globaleye Pte Ltd is a MAS regulated financial adviser who provides unbiased business solutions to both corporate and private clients. We spoke to Byron Murphy to gain insight into the firm and the services it provides.
Here at Globaleye Singapore, our expertise in financial advisory and planning has made us the first choice for over 1,000 clients locally, and our Wealth Managers are licensed, qualified and constantly trained to ensure that our clients are provided with the best advice and service at all levels.
Company: Globaleye Pte Ltd Name: Byron Murphy Email: bmurphy@globaleye.sg Web Address: http://www.globaleye.sg/ Address: 2 Battery Road, #26-01, Maybank Tower, Singapore 049907 Telephone: +65 9828 5734 / +65 6632 8370
Since the firm is not a tied agency, no bank, life or investment company influences the solutions we offer. This provides added value for our clients and a truly unbiased approach in creating tailored financial solutions. I personally am a great believer in impartial financial advice and ‘impartial’ means you select whatever investments and solutions you think are right for your clients. To achieve this Globaleye offers unbiased and expert advice and being ethical, we take giving responsible advice seriously. In addition Globaleye has no exclusive contractual relationship ties from a financial or ownership perspective with any 3rd party provider, hence there is no incentive to use one provider over another, thus ensuring only the best advice as all solutions are both appropriate and selected on merit only. Our clients are looking for a bespoke solution tailored to their individual needs, and this is exactly what we deliver. Since we have connections with some of the largest financial institutions in the world, our due diligence and procedures have to be of the very highest level. Globaleye’s clients in Singapore are predominantly expatriates but we also offer our services to clients from across Asia, with the key criteria being that our clients have international exposure. We have become the forerunner for being innovative and maintaining a client focused approach. Our Wealth Managers maintain an ongoing relationship with our Clients as their financial strategy develops and as their life cycle changes. Our unique online services in particular our Globaleye Bulletin Service (GBS) has proved invaluable to our subscribers in that it keeps them abreast of developments that may affect them. Similarly, our Globaleye Portfolio Service (GPS) provides a monthly report on the progress of client’s financial plans delivered straight to their inbox. These services, coupled with ongoing global market commentaries, seminars and a concise library of financial products, serves to keep our Clients abreast of economic developments that could affect their financial planning. The firm had a successful year in 2015, with our revenue increasing by 50% compared to 2014. Part of our success was due to our dedication to innovation. We place innovation at the heart of our processes and we constantly strive to surpass expectations by knowing our clients well and anticipating their needs. We are able to do this maintaining lasting relationships with them through social events and seminars we organize or through quarterly reviews and other contact. Also, we try to anticipate the changes and adapt successful strategies to remain on the cutting edge of new developments. We are also a truly global business with numerous offices in many of the key international centres. Currently the financial planning market in Singapore is highly competitive, and customers today are cognisant of everything that’s available. Therefore we continue to distance ourselves from the indiscriminate direct marketing and product-pushing model of old, by relying almost exclusively on client introductions and tailored marketing events to expand as a business. Moving forward, the market is polarising into the larger tied agent/distribution or product orientated firms at one end of the scale and the more independent, advice orientated advisory firms at the other. We are clearly focused on the more niche advisory approach in order to grow and differentiate ourselves. We are in the process of adding to our current licensing arrangement in Singapore to broaden our offering and thus accommodate the ever changing environment global investors/ expatriates are faced with. Our office has grown in the region over the past two years, from 20 to 40-plus staff, because ultimately, despite a highly competitive market, we are here to compete.
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Alternative Asset Management Firm of the Year - France & Best European/US Equity Market Neutral Fund (3 Years): JL Equity Market Neutral (UCITS) Fund
Established in 2001, John Locke Investments (JLI) is an independent alternative asset management company serving the needs of a wide range of international clients.
Company: John Locke Investments Address: 38 Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 77210 Fontainebleau-Avon France Phone: +33 1 64 70 40 40/46 Fax: +33 1 60 74 99 38 Email: contact@jl-investments.com Website: www.jl-investments.com
Based in Fontainebleau, France, John Locke’s team is dedicated to the task of delivering consistently high risk-adjusted returns across a full spectrum of asset classes and markets. The firm’s investment track record is one of continued performance and innovation and the firm’s ongoing research and development has ensured that they remain leaders of their chosen field. Through the firm’s in-house team of researchers, the company have been able to develop a range of strategies that are at the leading edge of investment technology. Their products are designed to be complementary to the returns of a traditional portfolio, while at the same time seeking to reduce the risk posed by the volatility of the international asset markets. John Locke believe that it is their commitment to research that has allowed the firm to maintain its position at the forefront amongst the world’s premier investment managers over the past 14 years. To achieve this success the firm has a policy to recruit only the finest available investment researchers and analysts. A testament to their success is the client base that they have built up since inception. The firm are proud to count some of the world’s largest financial institutions amongst their relationship, and fully recognise that their success is dependent on their choice of business partners, and as such seek to initiate long-term alliances that benefit all parties. Transparency and security are also key factors for the firm, and to this end they provide all clients with a high level of transparency with regard to our investment process and position reporting. All investment vehicles offered by John Locke Investments provide for daily liquidity. The firm’s investment portfolio is vast, in order to meet their client’s every need, and includes UCITS, onshore and offshore funds; private-label funds as well as managed accounts. One of the firm’s award winning investment solutions the JL Equity Market Neutral (UCITS) Fund. The Fund is a European/US equity market neutral fund that seeks to generate uncorrelated returns and maintain a low beta ratio to European and US equity indices. The Fund is fully systematic in its approach and deploys multiple quantitative models that seek to identify mispricing between a pre-defined universe of equity markets. An adaptive risk management technique is also employed that hedges against broad directional market risk and other risk factors that may be present within the investment portfolio. The Fund provides for daily liquidity. JLI is regulated by the A.M.F (Autorité des Marchés Financiers), is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) and as a Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) and is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA). These affiliations ensure that clients can be secure in the knowledge that the firm offers the most secure, market appropriate, risk averse strategies possible. Moving forward the firm intend to continue to undertake their research in order to build upon their current level of success, and fully expect to continue down the path of excellence that they have set for themselves, and look forward to sharing this excellence with their clients and other business partners in the years to come.
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Best Specialist Property Fund Manager - UK & Best Exempt Property Unit Trust: Keills Property Trust
Keills is an independent property fund manager, owned and managed by its founding directors, each with over 25 years of real estate experience in the UK and European markets. Andy Speedie provides us with a unique insight into this dynamic and growing business.
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Based in Scotland, Keills serves clients throughout the UK, with our key strength being our independence, which helps to ensure that we are not constrained in terms of strategy and are able to form our own unique view, sometimes at the periphery of current thinking. Keills is a manager of specialist UK real estate investments funds. Our principal fund is Keills Property Trust which seeks long term value, together with secure, real (after inflation) income. For this strategy, we coined the term “RPI Property”, being properties where rents are linked to the Retail Prices Index, the Consumer Prices Index or contracted to known fixed uplifts. Within this strategy we insist on tenants with the best credit rating covenant. In addition, we seek out what we term the “natural home” of a particular tenant. Invariably, the “natural home” will mean that a tenant will see long-term occupation as a priority. The result is that the Keills Property Trust produces strong index linked returns while ranked 16th percentile in terms of risk, as measured by MSCI/IPD. Keills Property Trust is open to UK pension fund clients.
Company: Keills Limited Name: Andy Speedie Email: andy.speedie@keills.com Web Address: www.keills.com Address: Suite 240, Baltic Chambers, 50 Wellington Street, Glasgow G2 6HJ Telephone: +44 (0)7775 792046
We believe that to be successful an investment manager needs to concentrate on five keys areas: 1 First class investment track record and performance. 2 Strong customer support. 3 Deliver strong deals. 4 Connect local and global economic factors to performance. 5 Provide a cost effective service. In order to retain our industry leading position, we work with our clients to ensure we understand their needs and always provide the best possible service. One of our favourite quotes is from Warren Buffet when he said “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” As a result, we do things differently. We listen to clients. We focus on the things we know and we provide first class service at all times. As such, we understand that we have extremely loyal clients and therefore reputational risk is important. To protect ourselves and existing clients, we only consider new clients who are of the highest standing and are able to demonstrate that to our satisfaction. As a result, considerable due diligence is required on the client, their investment objectives and source of funds ahead of any funds being taken under management. We are a small firm but adopt an institutional approach to customer servicing and investment analysis. However, as a small and independently minded firm, we are nimble, flexible and able to respond quickly to a changing environment. Geographically we differ, as the base of independent fund managers outside of London has collapsed since 2008. We survived, a testament to our experience and client loyalty. While our investment focus is currently on low risk UK investment, this does not mean that we will not explore and examine other markets both locally and overseas, as the opportunity arises. Working within the property investment market provides us with a unique view of the financial landscape. The investment world has changed both globally and locally and is dominated, as we see it, by global debt levels, escalating healthcare costs, and the forthcoming pension crisis. The current weight of money seeking a safe home vindicates our current strategy adopted in early 2010. The appetite for real estate investments has increased considerably with a resulting driving down of rental yields. In response to this, our 25 years’ experience provides us with the market contacts that enable us to seek out a strong supply of investment opportunities and also to filter and analyse the deals, in terms of strong property fundamentals. We strongly believe that real estate investment is not something to be automated but relies on market knowledge and the ability to maximise the return from different property assets. We believe in out sourcing many ancillary services and to achieve this, we ensure that compatible systems and technologies are used throughout the investment and administration chain. In order to stay ahead of current industry trends and offer the best possible service to our clients we have developed a bespoke database to harvest and filter a constant supply of potential investment deals. We also operate on a mobile platform, using cloud technologies as appropriate and this enables us to operate remotely and on location, while also providing a business continuity assurance. Moving forward, our key focus is on growing Keills Property Trust. Our target fund size is £250 million and beyond this, given the number of potential properties which would suit the fund, we would see a target of £1 billion as being achievable. We envisage extending our client base to include High Net Worth and Sovereign Wealth Funds. These clients may wish to adopt a strategy to include development and asset management and while our principal fund does not invest in such areas, our 25 years’ experience gives us the background to deliver performance in this field. Overall Keills is a dynamic small business located in Glasgow, Scotland. While small in size, it operates in the institutional market in terms of the quality of its clients and assets under management. As such, Keills places great emphasis on regulatory matters and corporate governance. Keills is registered as an Alternative Investments Fund Manager with the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. In addition, its subsidiary Magarch Limited, is authorised and approved by the FCA for key functions in the creation, marketing and operation of real estate investment vehicles. 17
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INDEPENDENT
| INNOVATIVE | INTERNATIONAL
OUR INDEPENDENCE
OUR PEOPLE
NAV is not affiliated with any bank, broker, or other services provider. Being 100% privately owned for our entire history has meant one thing above all: we are not bound by the need for short-term investor results. We have always been free to make our priority a long-term view with continuous investments into our infrastructure, our people, and our technology. NAV’s wholly-owned, proprietary technology, also eliminates any dependence on licensing technology from competitors or other third parties. NAV’s pledge is not to become involved in the industry’s M&A activity and consolidation.
NAV’s team brings a wealth of knowledge to each client engagement. We are proud to have remarkably low staff turnover. NAV’s commitment has always been to seek out the best educated and most seasoned industry professionals. Our capable people are prepared, responsive, and led by a veteran management team to provide the highest quality of service and support to our clients. Account Managers are highly qualified with a minimum of 8 years experience.
OUR IT AND INFRASTRUCTURE
OUR RESOURCES
We are a forward-looking firm and we innovate, enhance, and advance our infrastructure and systems every day. We pay attention to the details of programming, accounting, data integrity, cyber security, and disaster preparedness. We are constantly optimizing our control environment and core software with upgrades to our processes. We focus on using the most advanced technology and creating a culture of rapid, effective improvement.
NAV is a financially strong, debt-free business with offices in Chicago, Jaipur, and the Cayman Islands, including a 100,000 sq. ft. of state-of-the-art Backoffice Operations Center. NAV uses the latest core hardware technology, advanced software and web-based resources to ensure both our staff and our clients have access to the best products and applications for portfolio accounting, investor and compliance reports, and create efficient and customizable reporting and communications.
NAV Consulting Inc.: Registered Transfer Agent with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States. NAV Fund Services (Cayman) Ltd.: Licensed Mutual Fund Administrator with CIMA. ISAE 3402 (Type 2) Certified This statement is not intended to represent or imply in any manner whatsoever that NAV Consulting, Inc. has been sponsored, recommended, or approved, or that its abilities or qualifications have in any respect been passed upon by the United States or any agency or any officer thereof.
IF16054
Best for Risk Rated Multi-Manager Funds & Best Performing Multi-Asset Risk Fund: Margetts Providence
Company: Margetts Fund Management Ltd Email: sales@margetts.com Web Address: www.margetts.com Address: 1 Sovereign Court, Graham Street, Birmingham B1 3JR Telephone: 0121 236 2380
Margetts Fund Management is a privately owned investment boutique that specialises in managing risk rated multi-manager funds. CEO Toby Ricketts talks us through the firm and provides us with an insight into its history and current aims.
Herbert Margetts became proprietor of his own firm in 1875 and by 1892 was Chairman of the Birmingham Stock Exchange, a position he held for over ten years. Although many things have changed in financial markets, the Margetts name continues to be synonymous with a high standard of service, as well as pioneering innovation. In 1981, Margetts began to provide portfolio management services to private clients, pension funds, professional trustees and corporations. In 1992, we launched our first Risk Rated fund of funds and completed the range in 1995, a range that remains our flagship today. We are proud of the fund performance and additional value which has been added to our clients’ portfolios ever since. Our performance has attracted professional acknowledgement with the Margetts Fund Management team winning numerous awards for investment management over the years. Our aim is to provide clients with an investment which will achieve their objectives. The Margetts active management techniques are designed to provide superior returns for the level of risk undertaken and allow the client to choose the level of risk exposure they require based on their situation and the amount of time they expect to hold the investment. The firm offers the Margetts Risk Rated Portfolio System, which comprises of four funds, Providence, Select, International and Venture, each of which is a portfolio of collective investment schemes chosen and monitored by the Margetts Fund Management team. Each of the Margetts funds has a different risk rating and minimum recommended timescale for investment. These funds cover the risk spectrum from cautious to adventurous. By combining the Margetts funds, it is possible to create any risk rating between Providence and Venture. Our investment process centres around a team approach, to combine different skills and experience to increase overall capability. We believe that a team approach reduces certain risks and provides for more balanced research. The three senior investment managers have worked together for over ten years with a combined total of over sixty five years experience working in financial services. Our investment philosophy creates an overarching framework that guides the investment team. The philosophy is based on independence and focuses on long only, diversified and rational investments. Analysis centres on understanding structure, process, performance and the costs of an investment. The application of the investment philosophy creates a high level filter that drives our selections.
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http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Best Alternative Fund Administrator - Channel Islands
Moore Management Moore Management is a specialist provider of fund administration and management services, with offices in Europe and Asia. Headquartered in Jersey, the firm is licensed to provide fund administration services in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. We invited Jon Trigg to talk us through the firm and its dedication to client services.
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At Moore we support the management and servicing needs of a range of fund types – real estate, private equity, structured, open-ended and alternative investment. In addition to the more standard fund administration services, we also have extensive experience with complex investment holding company structures, carried interest structures, special purpose vehicles, special limited partners, as well as a variety of performance fee models. Company: Moore Management Name: Jon Trigg Email: Jon.Trigg@mooremanagement.com Web Address: www.mooremanagement.com Address: Ground Floor, Liberation House, Castle Street, Jersey JE2 3AT Telephone: +44 1534 822 500
Our clients range from major investment banks and large financial institutions to boutique alternative asset managers located in the foremost international financial centres. The firm has seen a number of exciting developments in recent years, and in 2013 we became part of First Names Group, one of the world’s largest independent trust, fund and corporate service providers. The Group’s entire fund administration offering operates under the Moore brand, highlighting the strength of the name. More recently we have seen the business grow organically by over 16% over the last 12 months, which is a wonderful achievement and follows on from previous revenue growth success in 2014. We have, however, ensured that the excitement of being involved in such a flourishing business has not clouded our strategy to build one that is sustainable and long-term; our growth has been carefully managed through investment in cutting edge technology and the recruitment of talented individuals. As such we have somewhat avoided one of the top challenges faced by fast-growing companies, particularly in the Channel Islands – that of capacity. Supplementing existing teams with additional talent at the right time is a balancing act for any business leader and, regardless of its size, a business must get this right first time in order to achieve success; not only in terms of service delivery and client experience but also in terms of culture. Getting the right people is hard. We invest a great deal of time finding the right people but we see it as a vital investment, as a company is only as good as the people who drive it. While we have recruited ambitious and driven individuals who have revelled in a working environment that is not restricted by bureaucracy, there has been no greater reward than seeing individuals step up and grasp opportunities that have arisen through this period of growth, demonstrating to themselves and their colleagues how far they have developed in confidence and technical ability. Our approach to people is very much in line with that of our parent company, First Names Group. As a Group we recognise that our people are our greatest asset; they are highly experienced, qualified and motivated individuals – with personality. As such, our culture is built on a unique DNA that puts them front and centre of everything we do. We pride ourselves on supporting and celebrating our people while building long-term, productive relationships with our clients. We believe this strong people focus sets us apart from the competition and results in delivery of the very best client service. I also think it is one of the main reasons we have been recognised through this award. Because we believe talented individuals are the key to our success, we place special emphasis on attracting and retaining great people who add to our talent pool. We want people who are professional, open and intelligent team players. A good sense of humour is a must, too. We may be meticulous recruiters, but once we have talented individuals on board we nurture each and every one of them to grow professionally and reach their full potential. Our dedication to hiring the best possible staff is fundamental to our business, as it helps us to better support our clients. At Moore we are dedicated to meeting needs and exceeding expectations. The fact that clients can expect more from Moore is the thinking behind our new marketing campaign, ‘Expect Moore’. We offer high levels of flexibility underpinned by meticulous attention to detail, and pride ourselves on delivering expertly tailored solutions to meet our clients’ needs. Our high service standards are enabled by the fact we are boutique, yet global. As a part of First Names Group, we are big enough to be trusted but small enough to be flexible. We are able to create very complex solutions while working closely with our clients to ensure they get the very best solution to suit their individual needs. Being able to strike this balance is a strong selling point of ours and is appreciated by our clients. Looking to the future, our team in Asia is building its presence to develop its offering and access new and different regions. In Europe, we will continue to build upon the strong platform of people we have in our existing offices, while also exploring new jurisdictions to provide the business with continued scale, diversity and a continued specialism in an alternative fund product offering. We have a very strong reputation for superior client service, which is ultimately delivered by brilliant individuals who should be very proud of what they have again achieved in 2015 and excited about what we can achieve in 2016.
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Best Investment Fund Marketer - USA Company: Pristine Advisers Name: Patricia Baronowski Email: pbaronowski@pristineadvisers.com Web Address: www.pristineadvisers.com Telephone: 631-756-2486
Pristine Advisers is an Investor Relations, Public Relations and Media Relations firm assisting a variety of clients of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds and locations. Patricia Baronowski, President and Founder of Pristine Advisers, provides us with a unique overview of the company and its service offering.
Pristine Advisers manages the IR/PR/Media Relations for various funds in the closes-end space, as well as, ETFs, BDCs, REITs and MLPs. We not only monitor current investors, but we also seek out potentially new investors, analysts, brokers and media to post our clients in a positive light. Our goal is to communicate with the investment community to ensure they are satisfied and that their questions are answered and that they feel comfortable with management and their investments. When shareholders feel comfortable and that their concerns are tended to and their questions are answered and management is in touch with them quarterly at best – this goes a long way for ROI. Our high quality services are supplied to a wide variety of clients, including Closed-End Funds, Exchange-Traded Funds, Hedge Funds, Business Development Companies, Master Limited Partnerships, Restaurants, Momand-Pop Shops, Fortune 500 Companies, Extreme Sports Businesses, Authors, etc. We support clients around the world of all shapes and sizes. We’ve helped start-ups, mergers and major corporations with huge success. Many of the clients we have had for over 20 years and who have followed us across three different firms, which is a huge testament to the type of service and commitment we provide our clients. This service has been provided in this market for 29 years. During this time we have seen many market movements, and knowing how to position our clients; that market conditions move up and down; what triggers movements and how Funds or Companies can respond and react to this is vital to our success. As long as the Companies or Funds are proactive and managing their portfolios correctly then a down market could be a great buying opportunity for investors. Everyone wants to buy when prices are low and then sell when they are high. It is all a matter of reading the markets, knowing the Funds, communicating with investors and being proactive and ensuring shareholders are not left in the dark. To ensure that this is not the case and that our information is always up to date, we are continuously monitoring the news to ensure we are up to date on the global markets, investment strategies, etc. and that our clients are doing everything that is possible to ensure shareholders needs are met. Our years of experience in the business has helped to set us apart from our competitors, as it has helped us to gain a thorough knowledge of the clients we represent. Other key factors in ensuring our success include our training and knowledge in the market and the contacts we’ve established through the years. We have accumulated investors, analysts, brokers and media through the years and target a select group of people for our clients, who support us at our investor conferences, whereas some of our peers will simply invite vendors or investors who may be interested in Fortune 500 firms or other businesses and such and really not interested in clients at all. Ultimately all of these factors combine to provide the results which highlight our superior services and dedication to client support. In the past we have managed to increase media exposure for some of our clients by as much as 253%, share price by 18% and funds average annual total return 19%. The future of our market is always evolving and changing, but this is part of what excites us. Working in such a challenging, adapting market is invigorating and ensures no two days are ever the same. I believe one of the changes that will be prominent moving forward is that many firms are hiring internal IR and/or PR people to assist them. Our approach sees us working with the internal IR/PR staff because we have the expertise and experience to support our clients, and do not need to outsource this. 23
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http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Best for Real Estate Asset Management - Central Europe
Revetas Capital Advisors LLP is a specialized real estate asset manager and is the investment advisor to the Revetas Capital funds, focused on private real estate investments in Central Europe. Eric Assimakopoulos talks us through the firm and the techniques it employs to ensure strong returns.
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Revetas Capital Advisors LLP aims to take advantage of post-crisis liquidity shortage in the market by targeting primarily cash flow positive, but distressed and overleveraged commercial real estate assets with high quality international tenants, requiring active asset management. Capital invested is focused predominantly on building and tenant improvements in order to strategically stabilise the asset’s operations and generate increases / enhance sustainability of rental income; thus, raising the profile of the asset and making it more institutional. The firm partners primarily with Austrian, German, Italian and local banks, and in coordination with existing sponsors, aims to identify the optimal levels of debt and restructure/recapitalise target assets. Lending banks want to avoid enforcement or recovery, preferring instead to partner with new credible sponsors to reposition their debt exposure and move the lending into a fully performing category. Banks are motivated to restructure the loans as most of these loans have ‘soft’ covenant breaches (such as LTV and maturity breaches) and the banks must hold additional provisional capital against these loans until they have been restructured. The result is usually highly attractive long term financing that enables investors to extract opportunistic returns over the mid/long term from core and core plus assets. Company: Revetas Capital Advisors LLP Name: Mr. Eric Assimakopoulos Email: ea@revetas.com Web Address: www.revetas.com Address: 61 Conduit Street Telephone: +44 (0) 207 220 2334
Revetas’ investment approach is innovative in the way we position ourselves with banks and existing sponsors. We treat them as partners and structure deals that provide an optimal solution for existing owners (who have held assets over a 5-10 year+ time frame and are looking to exit) and banks that need to clean up their balance sheets (given new European Central Bank initiatives). Revetas has successfully implemented a unique business model working with international banks to restructure and reposition some of the highest quality assets in CEE. The firm’s management is one of the longest standing operators in the region with over 12 years of experience. Because we are on the cutting edge of investing in the CEE, Revetas regularly participates in speaking engagements at conferences/events, including CNBC, from a point of leadership promoting the region. Visibility is an integral part of Revetas’ business culture. Revetas recognises that its investors and stakeholders feel more confident with visibility into their investments; therefore, Revetas operates a fully transparent structure, providing institutional quality reporting. In addition, Revetas holds quarterly investor meetings to discuss and review the current status of investments. Senior management team is always accessible to investors to provide detailed project level information. The Revetas management team has been an active investor and asset manager in Europe for over twelve years and has in-depth market knowledge of the real estate and banking practices in CEE (Central Eastern Europe). The members of the Revetas team have a proven track record of applying an effective hands-on asset management approach and maximizing the value of properties owned. In addition the firm has excellent longstanding relationships with the main international lending banks servicing the region, providing access to off-market transactions and favourably financing terms. The firm is based in Vienna (Austria) and London, with additional offices and staff in Bratislava (Slovakia), Bucharest (Romania), Warsaw (Poland), Budapest (Hungary), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Sofia (Bulgaria). As a result, Revetas is ideally positioned to identify, acquire and manage compelling investment opportunities. This vast experience in the European investment market has provided the firm with a strong insight into the financial sector in the region. Revetas believes that the global banking crisis, recession and real estate downturn have created exceptional conditions to source and execute real estate investments in the CEE region that should exhibit highly attractive risk-adjusted returns. Post financial crisis, real estate lending banks are estimated to have a significant amount of non-performing loans across the CEE region, the majority of which are real estate-related. Driven by past and forthcoming regulatory developments and new bank internal risk frameworks, the lending banks are tasked with an orderly deleveraging of those loans over the mid to long term. Higher regulatory capital requirements imposed by Basel III/CRD IV (Capital Requirements Directive IV) require banks to expand capital bases and reduce balance sheets, while the objective of Vienna Initiative I & II is to facilitate an orderly deleveraging by cross-border banking groups in emerging Europe. The results from the European Central Bank’s Asset Quality Review (AQR) are expected to lead to increased write downs by banks operating in the region. Although the current state of the global economic environment will present some challenges, we have identified strong, stable fundamentals for the markets that we invest. Innovation and growth in the region is on the rise, driven from increased outsourcing of international companies expanding in the region (six of Revetas’ target countries are among the top 20 optimal location for Business Process Outsourcing, based on a report by Cushman & Wakefield 2015), increased on-shoring of manufacturing, and increased demand for quality/flexible office space. Retail market is especially attractive as we see evidence of increased consumer spending and lack of supply in many of the sub-markets that we target. In addition, many of these CEE countries have been focusing on growth of SME’s, which helps to provide stability in the absence of FDI – although, that has not showed any signs of slowing in the near term. Over past five years, market plagued by severe illiquidity, driven by a combination of past ambitious investment strategies, over-saturated developments, easy access to capital, and currently a lack of active asset managers with capital in CEE. Nevertheless, liquidity is currently returning to the region with over €3.5 billion alone invested by major US-based investors including Blackstone, LoneStar, TPG and Morgan Stanley. 25
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Best DB Pensions Provider - UK
The Pensions Trust is an experienced provider of bundled high quality workplace pensions to more than 2,400 organisations, with c.240,000 members and assets under management of c. £7bn. We spoke to Mike Ramsey, Chief Executive about the firm’s dedication to providing quality pensions products.
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Company: The Pensions Trust Name: Joy Moore Email: DBcomplete@tpt.org.uk Web Address: www.tpt.org.uk Address: Verity House, 6 Canal Wharf, Leeds LS11 5BQ Telephone: 0113 394 2686
The Pensions Trust are DB specialists, and as such we have been dedicated to keeping pensions simple, accessible and easy to understand for 70 years. Our combined size and strength with over £7 billion of assets enables the schemes within The Pensions Trust to access institutional funds at wholesale prices, with cutting edge investments and strategies. We are a not-for-profit organisation, therefore we have no shareholders and are run purely for the benefit of our members. Our DB Complete product reduces the amount of time and money a client needs to spend running their defined benefit (DB) legacy pension scheme, whilst maintaining a high level of professional governance under our DB Master Trust arrangement. In addition our complete DB solution provides all the services required to run a DB pension scheme. Our research indicates that we can typically save 30% on the total costs of running a DB scheme. The size of The Pensions Trust means that we can provide innovative and cost effective solutions for those who face a challenge with their legacy arrangements. We offer two investments options within DB Complete. The first is our Dynamic Portfolio, for those wanting a more sophisticated and diversified investment approach. This portfolio provides access to a wide range of assets, including alternative growth assets, which help reduce volatility risk. The use of diversified growth assets also results in better returns for a given level of risk. For liability focussed (matching assets) we use a mix of corporate bonds, gilts and liability driven solutions to hedge out interest and inflation rate risk. The option also includes a dynamic de-risking framework, which means that when funding levels are reached, assets are moved from riskier to liability matched assets. The Simplified Portfolio provides a low cost mainly passive index-tracking investment approach. Our funds have seen strong investment performance: in the past five years the Trust’s DB portfolio has achieved a strong average return of over 8.1% per annum as of 30 September 2015. Recently our main focus has been bringing our DB Complete product to market, which has involved building relationships with key intermediaries such as corporate advisers, building brand awareness and targeted marketing campaigns (print and digital media strategy). This has generated considerable interest in our product. This success is hard won, as recently the DB pensions market has presented a number of challenges. The environment for DB Scheme funding remains challenging, record low gilt yields and increasing longevity have increased the liabilities in many schemes, despite significant deficit shortfall contributions. Schemes also face considerable fees for services from providers. It can be hard for schemes to understand exactly what charges they are paying; this is particularly true of investment fees. Smaller schemes in particular can find it hard to justify the fees required for some of the investments and solutions used to control risk. As DB schemes become legacy arrangements and regulatory burdens increase, schemes are finding it increasingly difficult to find trustees, who are willing to take on the responsibility of managing the scheme. This puts increasing pressure on employers and in particular, the financial directors, who often end up being responsible for managing a pension scheme and are torn between acting in the interests of the scheme members and keeping the business profitable. At the end of 2014, The Pensions Trust undertook a review of the market and found that there were very few organisations that would offer a fully bundled solution at a competitive price. The Pensions Trust knew that there had to be a better way and it’s against this backdrop that we developed DB Complete. DB Complete has completely transformed the market for small to medium sized legacy DB schemes because we researched the market and found a gap in market provision. Our solution is and unlike anything else available in the market place. It has delivered a wide range of client benefits, including cost savings, because when independently benchmarked against the market, DB Complete typically saves employers 30% of their DB costs. It also offers a clear charging structure upfront so that scheme sponsors can see exactly what they are paying for and there are no hidden charges. It also gives smaller schemes access to a wider range of asset classes, including liability driven investments and delivers strong investment performance, at a very competitive price. Our product offering is reviewed on a regular basis. In addition, DB Complete is a ‘one stop shop’ that covers all aspects required in running a DB scheme so that employers don’t need to worry about it. It is fully compliant and meets all regulatory requirements. It includes state of the art administration services, as well as covenant, legal and actuarial services. Ordinarily small to medium sized schemes would pay tens of thousands of pounds for these services in addition to a scheme management fee but with DB Complete, everything is included. Alongside this, The Pensions Trust offers market leading service and has received exceptional customer satisfaction scores when independently surveyed. Employer sponsors can rest assured that the advice and service received is of the highest quality as the Trust frequently outperforms industry benchmarks and is recognised externally for its quality service. Ultimately, we are unique in offering a complete DB product, offering all the services required to run an occupational pension scheme, and our strength and size means that we can offer a high quality product at a very competitive cost. We believe these factors will support us in obtaining further success and market growth moving forward. 27
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http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Best Private Equity Secondaries Investor 2016
Second Alpha Partners Second Alpha Partners is an investment firm which makes secondary investments in private companies, purchasing shares from existing shareholders – founders, executives, angels, VCs or corporate investors.
Company: Second Alpha Partners Address: 276 Fifth Avenue, Suite 901 New York, NY 10001 Phone: +1 (212) 446-1600 Website: http://secondalpha.com
Second Alpha is unique in the private equity market, as the firm invests capital directly in private companies that meet its investment criteria, usually in tandem with making secondary purchases of shares from existing investors, but also in situations involving debt conversions, restructurings, recapitalizations or pay-to-play financings. The firm was founded on the conviction that ten years is a long time for any shareholder to wait to receive some liquidity for an investment. Beyond their direct effects on investor returns, the long holding periods that have developed since the Dotcom Era have also threatened to disincentivise entrepreneurial risk taking and limit innovation. Second Alpha sees itself as a pioneer in the type of value-added secondary investing that is a natural and highly complementary component of the evolving venture cycle. Behind the scenes, Second Alpha relies on a great deal of careful data analysis to identify the types of companies in which it invests. The work that the Second Alpha team puts into its research helps to create more efficient due diligence processes, facilitate faster investment decisions and drive better results. In addition to providing strong returns for its investors, Second Alpha also serves a vital new function in the innovation community. The firm enables entrepreneurs, VCs and other investors to achieve partial or full liquidity within a reasonable time frame without having to force a company into an exit process before it is ready. Second Alpha takes on a supportive role in investor syndicates, providing capital, advice and energy to companies at key moments in their life cycle, and its team members leverage extensive industry experience when active board participation is required. The firm focuses its investment activities on private companies with proven business models, solid product offerings and good prospects for future growth. While officially sector-agnostic, Second Alpha primarily invests in companies with a TMT (Technology, Media and Telecommunications) orientation. With regards to geography, Second Alpha primarily invests in companies headquartered in the United States and Canada. Occasionally the firm will consider investments in private companies headquartered in other countries.
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IF16050
Best Diversified Multi-Strategy VC Fund: Star Capital Fund
Star Capital Star Capital Management is a private investment firm focused on transforming high-potential companies into definitive market leaders. Dayan Martinez, the firm’s Principal, provides us with a unique overview of the company and the range of investment strategies it provides.
Star Capital offer a range of alternative and traditional investment strategies for institutional and private investors who wish to capitalize on the long-term growth potentials of the emergence of technology in the United States and selected emerging markets. The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation over a broad range of securities in start-up to growth capital opportunities. The firm was established with a fundamental belief that business and investment can be a powerful source of good. Business and investment can be a potent driver for positive social change by providing local entrepreneurs the ability to start own businesses as well as creating social opportunities for both employees and clients. As such our investment strategy is to focus on firms that have an opportunity to deploy capital on and efficient basis to significantly alter their growth trajectory and create value for the founders, managers, and owners of the businesses. Through a combination of capital and operational expertise, we help our companies deliver innovative offerings for high-growth markets. Our unique and long-term outlook translates into stability and growth opportunities. Company: Star Capital Management Name: Dayan Martinez Email: dmartinez@starcapitalfund.com Web Address: http://www.starcapitalfund.com Address: 3363 NE 163rd Street, Suite 707, North Miami Beach, FL 33160 Telephone: +1 (305) 517-1811
In addition we believe in long-term relationships and in the open sharing of ideas. Our goal is to create value through top-line growth and operational improvement. We share the value created with management and align interests to seek to achieve superior results. Our deep industry knowledge and rigorous due diligence enable the firm to identify attractive assets with the potential to generate superior investment returns. In order to achieve this goal, we play a very active role in all aspects of the businesses we select, not to only improve operations but also expand to new business areas and re-shape strategy. Further to this, we take a holistic view of our portfolio to maximize synergies across companies. As a team we are committed to helping creative and driven entrepreneurs build companies that last. Within this team we have a number of technology experts and they support the firm in offering a technology focused approach to investment strategies and operating efficiencies. Alongside our strong technological offering, each of our corporate officers brings a unique blend of leadership, vision, experience and creative energy to the company. Moving forward we see a strong future for technology and emerging markets. As such we estimate that the tech sector private growth capital overhang exceeded $250 billion in 2015 and we see that there is plenty of capital available on the side-lines for 2016. In addition to U.S. focused investments we are exploring investments in CARICOM region and Eastern Europe. By having a diversified group of investors we are well positioned for expansion in 2016 and beyond.
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Best SME European Private Equity Firm - Switzerland
Akina offers European private equity funds focusing on investing into small and medium sized businesses through a Zurich based investment adviser and a Luxembourg based alternative investment fund manager. Thomas Frei talks us through the firm and the services it provides.
Company: Akina Ltd Name: Thomas Frei Email: thomas.frei@akinapartners.com Web Address: www.akinapartners.com
Akina’s offering consists of primary funds (Euro Choice programme), secondary funds (Euro Choice Secondary programme) and co-investments (Euro Choice Direct programme) funds as well as respective advisory or discretionary mandates. Akina is proud to have a growing number of the world-leading pension funds, financial institutions, endowments and foundations, as well as family offices among its investors around the globe. Akina’s business model is to provide investors with access to some of the most exciting investment opportunities in the European private equity middle market. We seek attractive returns from private equity investments primarily through capital gains focusing on buyout, growth capital and, selectively, special situations investments in mainly small and mid-sized companies whose principal place of operations is in the European Union. Akina targets segments of the European private equity market that are difficult to access or are inefficient, because we believe these segments offer the greatest potential for superior returns, yet investors need support to exploit them. The political and economic turmoil Europe faces, has significant differences among European countries, which had been less obvious during the last decade of economic growth and financial stability. Akina believes that it is important to flexibly exploit investment opportunities to take advantage of the different economic patterns across Europe. Akina’s investment approach is tailored to such situations and ensures, that only the most promising investment are selected. Our past performance is a proof of a robust process ensuring constant attractive returns during different economic cycles. Akina is well situated in today’s fast paced environment. The establishment of Akina (Luxembourg) S.A. beginning of 2015 to address regulatory changes, in particular to be compliant with the Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive (AIMFD), was an important step to remain on the cutting edge of new developments. Since the company became independent in 2010, it has invested substantial resources in reviewing and redefining its medium term business strategy involving external consultants as well as the senior professionals of the company. Clients’ needs have been carefully analysed with external help. As a consequence, prospects have been carefully segmented and their needs have been addressed with a more tailored offering of primary fund of funds, secondary fund of funds, direct co-investment funds and related mandates for large prospects. We believe one of our competitive advantages is that we are simply not under pressure to put money to work in anything but the best funds in their respective regions and segments. We go as far as postponing a planned next fund raising, if we would see that total assets under management at any point in time would require us to make compromises with respect to our strategy. Akina has demonstrated a disciplined focus on its core European strategies and has not expanded its investment management offering to other regions. Moreover, we place a heavy focus on sizing the Euro Choice programmes and related mandates and allocating the appropriate amount to each Fund Investment based on assessments of the market opportunity. This is expected to ensure continued out-performance through appropriately diversified portfolios concentrated on what we consider to be the best-in-class fund in each investment region.
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http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Germany Equity Market-Neutral Manager of the Year Best Equity Long/Short Manager of the Year - Germany
Allianz Discovery Germany Strategy Allianz Global Investors is an asset manager owned by Allianz SE, a global insurance group which is a market leader in property, casualty and credit insurance and one of the world’s foremost asset managers and life insurers. We got in touch with Ralf Walter, European Equity Fund Manager at Allianz Global Investors, who gave us his insight behind the successful performance of his German equity market-neutral fund.
Company: Allianz Global Investors GmbH Name: Ralf Walter Lead Portfolio Manager Email: Discovery@allianzgi.com Web Address: www.allianzgi.com Address: Bockenheimer Landstraße 42-44, 60323 Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Risk management is at the heart of Allianz’s investment management philosophy, and as such we are always committed to delivering satisfaction for clients. Our client base is substantial, and we manage EUR 442 billion in assets for both retail and institutional clients worldwide. Our four pillars of excellence: equities, fixed income, multi-asset and alternatives, allow us to provide solutions for clients across the full spectrum of asset management activity. Furthermore, our client centric approach means that we can develop a deep understanding of their needs in order to provide the strategies and customised solutions that deliver innovative and intelligent ways to achieve their objectives. With regards to our team, we manage pan-European and German equity market-neutral funds. As such, we aim to generate returns for investors regardless of overall equity market direction and within tightly managed risk constraints – particularly low net exposure and minimal market beta. The combination of AllianzGI’s broad research capabilities, our blend of fundamental, thematic and restructuring trades, continuous re-assessment of our investment theses and a strong risk management framework allows us to generate strong performance on behalf of our clients. Our investment strategy is based upon a marriage of fundamental company analysis and macro/thematic research. Our proprietary fundamental research identifies companies with upside or downside potential that is not fully reflected in the current price and our macroeconomic and thematic inputs are employed to complement the bottom-up idea generation and the portfolio construction process, especially when deciding the portfolio’s tactical market exposure and the overall quality bias. In order to ensure that we remain at the cutting edge of our industry, we work continuously to review our investment strategies and product offering against the market, regulatory environment and client demand. We are able to offer a number of our strategies in a variety of vehicles to meet specific clients’ needs and work to maintain and improve our standards of client care, coverage and support. Looking to the future we are optimistic that we will continue to deliver and exceed the expectations of our clients. We are confident that, despite the recent and ongoing difficulties presented by capital markets, changes to the global regulatory framework and the challenging macro-economic environment, we will remain able to manage our alternatives business and the Allianz Discovery Germany Strategy in line with our clients’ expectations, as well as our internal ambitions for both asset growth and risk adjusted performance. More specifically, we are incubating a number of alternative investment strategies (including within our alternative equity business) – and expect to make some of these available to clients during the course of 2016.
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Most Innovative Payment Service Provider 2016
Allied Wallet is a global leader in online credit card processing / payment processing, multi-currency merchant services, digital eWallet solutions, software development, as well as being a provider of a PCI Level 1 payment gateway.
Company: Allied Wallet LTD Website: https://www.alliedwallet.com/
Allied Wallet has always been an innovator in payment solutions, offering a wide range of payment options to support both online merchants and their clients. The firm’s CEO Andy Khawaja explains how the firm has created a unique product range which helps his firm to meet client needs more efficiently than his competitors. “We’ve worked hard to become global experts in e-commerce, and we continue to set new standards for protection, performance, and profitability. In order to ensure that clients receive a top quality service which meets their individual needs, we’ve built a customisable platform. Other businesses in our market don’t do that, they don’t customise their products, they just provide one tool for every customer. At Allied Wallet, we work with our merchants to give them what they need,” said CEO Andy Khawaja. With multiple locations around the globe and an impressive repertoire of banking relationships, Allied Wallet offers users innovative payment services at the lowest industry rates. With state-of-the-art security and PCI Level 1 Compliance, the online payments company has been a trusted solution since 2005. Allied Wallet offers the ability to accept nearly every global currency in 196 countries almost instantly. “The good thing about Allied Wallet is the way it works. In business you always have to move quickly, to anticipate a client’s needs and adapt to them,” said CEO Andy Khawaja. Allied Wallet built an adaptable solution that can be paired with most major e-commerce solutions, connecting with a wide range of shopping carts all over the world including redSHOP and Magento. This is ideal for clients who are currently using a shopping cart and would like to switch their payment solutions provider. Moving forward, the firm continues to revolutionize the e-commerce industry by interconnecting payment solutions as a “one-stop-shop” as well as introducing new and innovative payment processing solutions for merchants all over the world.
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IF16017
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Most Innovative Multi-Asset Strategies 2016
Banque Pâris Bertrand Sturdza (PBS) is an independent private bank founded in 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland. We invited Sebastien Di iorio to talk us through the firm and the services it provides.
Company: PBS Investments Plc Name: Sebastien Di iorio Email: sebastien.diiorio@pbsinvestments.com Web Address: www.pbsinvestments.com Address: 19 rue de Candolle, Geneva, Switzerland Telephone:+41 22 316 02 46
PBS Investments Plc is the asset management arm of Banque PBS. We are active managers, making decisions based on a distinctive investment process. As a young firm, our goal is to win the trust of our clients and provide consistent positive returns in all market conditions. With this goal in mind, the funds we run are all based on independent research and a core belief that only strategies that are disciplined, dynamic and diversified can fulfil investors’ expectations in terms of risk and reward. A good example of this philosophy is the SMART Portfolio fund, which is our flagship solution. This is a multi-asset strategy with no constraints, a global reach and high convexity. The investment universe allows us to take advantage of opportunities across equities, fixed income, credit, real estate, commodities, precious metals and cash. The latter plays a central role by allowing to dynamically de-risk the portfolio depending on market conditions according to a set of fixed rules. The portfolio is rebalanced each week and allows investors to gain strategic exposure to growth assets while respecting the objective of capital preservation. At the centre of what we do is a belief that process is the most critical aspect of running money. Therefore our investment philosophy is that a robust and repeatable process must be able to withstand all market cycles. As such we position our fund offering in order to provide investors active strategies that can adapt to new developments because they were not designed with a specific market environment in mind. This allows us to spend more time talking to clients and delivering our value proposition. Moving forward, it is our belief that the economic and financial environment will remain challenging for the foreseeable future. Finding the right partner will be as important as finding the right solution. We believe the investment process and approach we have put in place allow us to offer strategies that meet investors’ objectives, both in terms of risk and performance. Ultimately we believe we are ideally placed to offer solutions to the challenges investors currently face. We are expanding into new territories and do not exclude to launch a new strategy in the coming year in order to offer our services to a broader client base.
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IF16002
Sustained Excellence in International Fund Services - Channel Islands
Bedell Fund Services Bedell Fund Services is an award winning, leading independent fund, corporate and trust administration company with a reputation for long-term client relationships. We consistently invest in our people and technology in order to stay ahead of evolving client needs and the latest regulatory demands to provide best practice solutions for our clients. Company: Bedell Website: www.bedellgroup.com
Our core services are as follows:• fund administration and accounting • professional directors & trustees • AIFMD depositary & UK FCA Operator • international finance & securitisation vehicles Bedell Fund Services has been servicing alternative investment funds for over 20 years. Our core focus as an independent service provider is on the best of class delivery of fiduciary, administration and accounting services to institutional investors, real estate fund managers and private equity fund managers. Our priority is to provide tailored fund administration solutions, with exceptional service to all our clients. We offer a range of specialist services, all director-led and with full technical support. We can also support the outsourcing of certain functions back to our clients or fund promoters or nominated third party where appropriate. Bedell consistently invests in its people and technology in order to stay ahead of the latest regulatory demands and evolving client needs to provide specialist solutions, so you can concentrate on managing your fund. We administer over US$35 billion of assets with individual fund structures ranging from US$100 million to US$6 billion. In addition, the teams administer private structures with values from US$7 million to US$800 million.
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IF16048
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Multi-Strategy Asset Management Team of the Year & Best Actively Managed Multi-Strategy Fund: F&C Diversified Growth Fund
BMO Global Asset Management are an award winning investment manager with a dedication to innovation. We invited Keith Patton to talk us through the firm and the services it provides. Company: BMO Global Asset Management Web Address: http://www.bmogam.com/uk/institutional/ Address: Exchange House, Primrose Street, London, EC2A 2NY Telephone: +44 (0)20 7011 4444
At BMO Global Asset Management (BMO), we believe that institutional clients need an investment partner that truly understands the environment in which they operate and how it is evolving. This is vital in ensuring that changing investment goals can be accommodated by responsive and forward-looking strategies. “Our Diversified Growth Strategy embodies these beliefs and we are delighted that AI have acknowledged the hard work of the team and the competitive returns delivered during 2015” says Keith Patton the co-portfolio manager. The strategy has an objective of delivering a cash + 4% return with a distinct focus on preserving capital. It seeks to achieve this objective through a dynamic asset allocation to a diversified range of global assets and strategies and implemented in a cost efficient manner by a team of investment specialists. “During 2015, a difficult year for financial markets, the flexibility of the fund proved essential in delivering the return of 5.7% without exposing our clients to unnecessary risks” explains Keith. Multi-strategy investing at BMO offers investors low cost access to a delegated investment management service with some key benefits which include: • Single investment structure combining multiple asset classes • Dynamic approach to asset allocation • Disciplined and repeatable investment process • Robust risk management framework • Significant capacity • Highly competitive pricing
At BMO Global Asset Management (formerly F&C Investments) we have been managing assets on behalf of pension funds, insurance companies and charities for many decades. Over that time we have earned a strong reputation for product innovation, as we always keep our clients one step ahead. The firm has over 250 investment solutions covering both traditional and alternative assets, seeking to achieve broad diversification and uncorrelated performance. We aim to give you more expertise, more certainty and more routes to investment success. BMO Global Asset Management offers the stability and resource of a business with £150bn under management, more than 1,500 employees and four investment centres in London, Chicago, Toronto and Hong Kong, and 26 offices in 16 countries worldwide (all as at 31 December 2015). We are part of the BMO Financial Group, which was founded in 1817 as the Bank of Montreal (BMO). 36
Thank you. But the hard work doesn’t stop here. UBS Private Funds Group are proud to been havenamed been named UBS Private Funds Group are proud to have ‘Placement Agent of the Year’ by Acquisition International. ‘Placement Agent of the Year’ by Acquisitions Monthly. We to help helpyou, you,our our clients, achieve We want want to clients, achieve your your goals goals and deliver and deliver results beyond your expectations. And that results beyond your expectations. And that means always striving means always striving to provide the advice, ideas and to provide the advice, ideas and excellent execution you need to excellent succeed. execution you need to succeed. We globaldistribution distribution for private equity, We provide provide global for private equity, infrastructure infrastructure and real asset on funds, and advise on and real asset funds, and advise fundraising for selected fundraising for selected general partners. general partners. Find outmore: more:ubs.com/privatefundsgroup www.ubs.com/privatefundsgroup Find out
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IF16006
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Best UK Growth Fund: Close Brothers Regional Growth Fund (RGF) Asset Purchase Scheme
Close Brothers is a leading UK merchant banking group, providing lending, deposit taking, wealth management services, and securities trading. We spoke to CEO Mike Randall, who provided us with a fascinating insight into the company and the services it provides.
Company: Close Brothers Name: Mike Randall Email: enquiries@closeasset.co.uk Web: www.closebrothers.com Address: Wimbledon Bridge House, 1 Hartfield Road, London, SW19 3RU Phone: +44 020 8339 4949
We are delighted to have been awarded the Best UK Growth Fund: Close Brothers Regional Growth Fund (RGF) Asset Purchase Scheme, which is recognition of our teams’ hard work and dedication in providing high quality products for our customers. As one of the leading players in the UK asset finance market (with a loan book of around £1.5bn), we pride ourselves on the strength of our customer relationships and our values-driven culture. This culture informs our decision-making at all levels, firmly placing our customers at the very centre of our business. Six years ago we stopped the business for a day to give everyone the opportunity to help define and input to our Vision and Values. Today, we are reaping the rewards of this bottom-up approach through high levels of employee satisfaction and one of the highest Net Promoter Scores in the financial services industry. Back in 1987, we started with the aim of shaking up the traditional lending model of finance houses, and to a large extent we’ve achieved this goal in what is now the fastest growing finance option on the market. Today, we have offices across the UK and Ireland, operating in a wide variety of markets, including transport; manufacturing; print; agriculture; broking; dentistry and recycling. The firm offers a wide variety of services including: hire purchase; sale and HP back; refinancing; finance lease and operating lease. This wide variety of services ensures that we are able to fully support our clients. Ultimately, we see ourselves as the champion of SMEs, offering sustainable funding that enables a business to purchase or refinance capital equipment, ranging from commercial vehicles and print machinery to construction and plant. With our expert knowledge of the sectors in which we operate, we are able to provide a level of flexibility and adaption that many others simply cannot. For instance, we have a strong, but sensible, approach to risk – each case is taken on its own merit and assessed according to a number of key criteria.
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IF16045
Best Egyptian Securities Fund Manager 2016
Concord International Investments The New York based Concord Group, an SEC registered investment management company, is one of the leading fund managers of Egyptian Securities in the world. Suzan Awad talks us through the firm and the services it provides.
Company: Concord International Investments Name: Suzan A. Awad Email: sawad@concord.com.eg Address: 9 Hod El Laban street, Garden City, Cairo, Egypt Telephone: +1 202 27923965
The Concord Group manages the wealth of individuals, families, foundations and institutions. As a firm we possess widely recognized expertise in mutual fund management, portfolio management, direct investment and corporate finance. The US fixed income division of the Concord Group manages portfolios for domestic and global clients. In addition, the firm offers expertise in investing in US equities through its affiliates, and the group also provides corporate finance advisory services. The group have been pioneers in the Egyptian fund market since 1994, when we were the first company in the country to obtain a license to establish a branch to manage mutual funds. We were also the first international firm to conduct a detailed market study on mutual funds in Egypt in 1994, and in 1996 we were the first firm to establish a closed-ended country fund, The Egypt Investment Company Limited, and an open-ended country fund in 1997, The Egyptian Growth Investment Company Limited. This pioneering approach has shaped the way the firm conducts itself to this very day. Concord currently manages two domestic funds and seven international funds, of which four are direct equity funds. Of the seven international funds, four are listed on the Channel Islands Stock Exchange and one is listed on the Dublin Stock Exchange. The Concord Egypt Fund Euro shares, Egyptian Growth Investment Company Limited and Nile Growth Company (now gone) were all rated five stars by Morningstar over varying periods.
Juan A. Valino Garcia / Shutterstock.com
Ultimately we believe that direct equity and direct investment funds are the future, and since Concord has a long track record managing direct equity funds, we believe that we will continue to succeed in this field moving forward.
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IF16047
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Best African Private Equity Transaction 2015 (DUET / SAPLED)
Based in London, Duet Group is a global alternative asset manager which manages in excess of US$5.5 billion of equity across various strategies and geographies. Maty Ndiaye and Alexandre Khawam talk us through the firm and its standout deal to acquire SAPLED. In recent years Duet Group has developed a key focus on Frontier and Emerging Markets, positioning itself as a specialist investment management firm with a proven edge and track record in these markets. Company: Duet Group Name: Alexandre Khawam Email: info@duetgroup.net Web: www.duetgroup.net Address: 27 Hill Street London, W1J 5LP United Kingdom Phone: +44 (20) 7290 9800
Duet Private Equity (DPEL), the Private Equity arm of the group, has been focusing on investing in unique opportunities in Africa since 2011. Following significant investments in Ethiopia and Ghana, the team was ready to explore and tap into opportunities in Francophone Africa, a region still largely untapped by any of their competitors. As such, the Africa Private Equity team and its close network of partners acquired SAPLED last year, with the transaction marking the team’s entry into a new country, Ivory Coast, one of Africa’s fastest growing and most promising economies. Founded 25 years ago, SAPLED is one of Côte d’Ivoire’s largest dairy and juice processing manufacturers in the country, now ready for full expansion in Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo and Guinea. Its portfolio of brands and products enjoy an extremely high recognition across the region, and and as such was the obvious choice for the firm’s first acquisition in this dynamic and growing region. Needless to say, this new acquisition has provided the team with a number of challenges to overcome. Alexandre Khawam: “Because we are conservative in our investment philosophy, investing in a new country is always a challenge. You need time to absorb the environment and understand the risks. You will always find unexpected hurdles to overcome and you need to be very cautious about every decision you make. But overall and with the comfort of being associated to a cutting edge management team, 2015 was a strong year for Cote d’Ivoire and we are proud to have contributed to that growth with this investment in SAPLED.” Maty Ndiaye: “SAPLED was an exciting opportunity to work on but with its challenges and despite those we managed to close the transaction and are now in control of one of the leading consumer companies in the country. Thanks to a trusted management team and a lot of time and resources invested in the country prior to the transaction, we managed to develop key relationships that allow us to steer the business in the right direction and counter any volatility associated of doing business in a new country.” The team has clearly been able to generate alpha while mitigating the risks as much as possible. The investment is anticipated to provide the returns investors are hoping for when investing in Africa.
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IF16018
Award for Excellence in Absolute Return Strategies - France
Eiffel Investment Group is an alternative asset manager specialized in absolute return strategies. Fabrice Dumonteil provides us with an overview of both the firm and the European investment market.
Eiffel Investment Group is an independent group, owned by the team alongside former Louis Dreyfus group Chairman and CEO Jacques Veyrat (the company started end 2008 as an asset management division of the Louis Dreyfus group and spun-off mid-2011). Company: Eiffel Investment Group Name: Fabrice Dumonteil Email: fd@eiffel-ig.com Web Address: http://www.eiffel-ig.com/fr Address: 9 rue Newton, 75116 Paris
The group and its principals have invested €100 million in the funds managed by Eiffel Investment Group, ensuring a very strong alignment of interests with investors and a constant focus on risk management. Our clients are predominantly large, sophisticated institutional investors and the firm currently has over €500 million euros in assets under management, which are invested in credit assets, primarily of European corporates, through public and private markets. Eiffel Investment Group relies on a fundamental, research-intensive, investment approach to identify attractive alpha generating investment opportunities. As such our strategy is to provide smart strategies for a low growth and low rate environment. We rely on superior research with in-depth sector expertise and “first hand” research on companies to do so, as well as efficient risk management. As a leading Europe based Investment Group we are in a unique position to review the investment market in that region. Despite the low yield environment surrounding credit markets, we are convinced that Europe still has a lot of potential for smart investors and that a lot of value remains in smaller, below-radar situations. A lot of credit funds active in Europe do either distressed or structured credit, or are pockets of a larger global credit fund. We believe that our more nimble and opportunistic approach is adapted to the secular deleveraging by European banks and the ensuing changes of the European credit market provides interesting absolute and relative value opportunities. We hold a concentrated book of core positions that are catalyst driven, so as to capture idiosyncratic opportunities, as un-correlated as possible of market conditions. Capitalizing on our local team knowledge and expertise, we aim to capture “second tier” opportunities that may be outside the radar screen of other credit funds. The firm is constantly looking at new strategies that match our skillset and strengths and we added new talents to the team in 2015 so that moving forward, we are able to better serve our clients. We believe that the disintermediation of the funding of the European economy provides a very strong tailwind for our public and private debt activities. We are in constant dialogue with our large clients –which we view as partners- to provide them with investment solutions that fit their strategy and their need for yield in this low rates environment.
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IF16027
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Best China-Focused Long-Term Active Asset Manager & Best Multi-Sector Small Cap Hedge Fund (Since Inception): Heng Ren Investments LP
Heng Ren Investments LP is a constructive, innovative, and active investor in “orphaned” Chinese stocks listed on U.S. stock exchanges. Peter Halesworth provides us with a unique insight into the firm and the investment opportunities it offers.
Heng Ren, based in Boston, Massachusetts, seeks to engage companies by sharing our research and analysis to assist them.
Company: Heng Ren Investments LP Name: Peter Halesworth Email: phalesworth@hengreninvestment.com Web Address: http://www.hengreninvestment.com Address: Suite 500, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Telephone: (917) 439-7369
Heng Ren’s objective is to create long-term value for these orphaned public companies, and their shareholders, including ourselves and our investors. The firm’s ultimate objective is to help company managements improve their reputation with investors by identifying very fixable problems and offering solutions. We share this in a transparent fashion in the public forum so shareholders and investors can evaluate the problems and the solutions, and monitor progress. Our fund is the “Overseas Chinese” fund. The strategy is to invest in the “Next China” of entrepreneurial, private sector companies whose stock trades only on U.S. stock exchanges – at low valuations. We are exploiting this rare convergence of value and innovative growth companies that we believe over the long term will produce superior returns for investors. As a fund manager Heng Ren invests in a universe of stocks – Chinese companies listed solely on U.S. stock exchanges – that are ignored by Wall Street and conventional funds. This offers us the opportunity to invest in undervalued “hidden gems” we unearth in a non-competitive area with the advantage of an institutional and professional approach to valuation. Our research is highly proprietary, and in some cases we have the only known valuation model in the world for some companies because they are ignored and under researched. Heng Ren recently made a successful push for a higher bid in the buyout of Jiayuan.com International Ltd., China’s largest online dating site, which ended in a 41% increase in the final buyout price to be paid to shareholders. Heng Ren challenged a Buyer’s Group, including the co-Chairman, offer of $5.37 per share of being well below fair value. Heng Ren lobbied a Special Committee evaluating the buyout offer, published its valuation analysis, and broadcasted its views in the Chinese and Western financial media. Multiple competing bids were received. Ultimately the bid was raised to $7.56 per share, an increase of 41% from the original bid, adding US$73 million in value for all shareholders of Jiayuan.com. Moving forward Heng Ren is looking to expand its fund as there are plenty of opportunities to invest in the “Next China” at low prices in our stock universe. Our success as constructive and active investors has brought queries from investors who believe our strategy would work in other markets, and Emerging Markets in particular. Overall we are excited about what the future has in store for the business.
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IF16032
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Best Systematic Global Absolute Return Fund (3 Years): J8 Futures Fund & Recognised Leader in Liquid, Diversified & Systematic Investments
J8 Capital Management LLP offers highly liquid and highly diversified alternative investment solutions. We spoke to Dr. Tillmann Sachs from the firm to gain an insight into the investment products and client services it provides.
In June of this year, J8 expects to launch the J8 Global Absolute Return UCITS Fund in Luxembourg. The strategy (“J8 GARS�) was up +9.4% gross in 2015 and has been trading since 2012. Our strategy is derived from economic principles and empirical observations. It focuses on capital preservation and high risk-adjusted returns with superior diversification benefits which also merit stand-alone investment. Company: J8 Capital Management LLP Name: Dr. Tillmann Sachs Email: info@j8capital.com Web Address: www.j8capital.com Address: 120 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5EA, United Kingdom Telephone: +44 13 7227 0975 (day), +44 75 4007 4545 (mobile)
Our investment process is fully systematic and the strategy does not permit discretion. This allows J8 to reduce behavioural bias and operational risk. The use of empirical testing of the strategy over a long data history crates greater investment confidence. Risk management is an integral part of our strategy and trading system design. The strategy allocates asset with equal risk and a target volatility mechanism is used to control overall portfolio risk and achieve a long-term consistent return profile. The strategy trades highly liquid global markets only, allowing for scalability and providing daily liquidity to investors. J8 GARS consists of six sub-strategies which trade fixed income, currency, and commodity markets (FICC) with momentum, carry, and fundamental models. It is managed within UCITS guidelines. We believe investors have a right to know what is happening with their money, and as such J8 is dedicated to communicating with them and looking after their interests. J8 provides investors with systems insight and pricing disclosure, daily reporting of traded positions as well as monthly performance updates and commentary. J8 primarily works with institutional and professional investors, ranging from pension, endowment, and sovereign wealth funds to asset managers and fund-of-funds and single- and multi-family offices. J8 is also looking for seeding and distribution partners in the US to launch a 40Act Fund on the same investment strategy.
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Company: Jive Investments Web Address: http://www.jiveinvestments.com/ Telephone: + 55 (11) 3500-5055
Best Investment Management Firm 2016 – Brazil
Jive Investments is a fully integrated NPL platform focused on originating, structuring and servicing investment portfolios in the distressed credit market in Brazil.
Established in 2010, Jive is a well-respected and one of the largest investors in the Brazil NPL and distressed credit market, being one of the few vertically integrated players with structuring, execution and loan servicing expertise. Alexandre Cruz founded the firm when he started acquiring non-performing credits from his clients at NeoIntelligence, a financial service boutique which he founded in 2004. In 2010, he partnered with Marcelo Martins and Manuela Larangeira to acquire Lehman Brothers’ portfolio of corporate NPLs in Brazil,which marked the official start of Jive’s activities. Guilherme Ferreira joined as a partner soon thereafter. Jive’s investment team is comprised of over 60 dedicated professionals who possess diverse and complementary skill sets in finance, distressed credits and non-performing loans, of which almost half have a legal background. The firm has a strong focus on acquiring large corporate NPL portfolios, capitalizing on Jive’s expertise and proprietary pricing model to analyse and underwrite complex loans in a short period of time. Currently, Jive’s platform manages a portfolio of over R$8bn in non-performing credits, including corporate and retail loans. In 2015, the Firm launched a R$500mm closed-end fund to invest in the distressed asset class in Brazil, and over 60% of the Fund’s capital has been allocated already. It can arguably be said that Jive has already achieved its mission, to become a reference in the origination, pricing and recovery of distressed loans and assets, maximizing returns for all stakeholders in the process, but the firm continue to work hard to deliver superior returns to its investors by ensuring in depth analysis and strong execution go side by side with integrity, transparency, honesty and respect in every transaction and investment they undertake. Moving forward, the Firm estimates that the Brazilian economy will continue to struggle following the economic crisis, and therefore Jive plans to boost its headcount and improve its servicing capacity, in order to be able to manage more distressed debt and expand other asset classes. This prediction would seem to be correct, as Brazil’s economy is poised to shrink 3.5% this year according to a central bank survey, adding last year’s 3.8% contraction. Meanwhile, annual inflation is running above 10% and unemployment in Brazil’s six biggest metropolitan areas has surged to 7.6% from 4.3% at the beginning of last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. All of that is making it harder for consumers and businesses to pay their bills. Personal delinquency rates soared to 6.2% in January from 5.3% a year earlier, the central bank said. And the number of companies filing for bankruptcy protection in the first two months of the year doubled, according to Serasa Experian, a Sao Paulo-based credit rating company. Therefore, Jive is poised to undertake a number of investments within Brazil’s distressed market, which have the potential to help the Firm grow considerably in the next few years.
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IF16003
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Best New Absolute Return Fund: JMH Absolute Return SICAV SIF & Most Innovative Fund Managers 2016
JMH Asset Management is an absolute return manager with a focus on being uncorrelated to the vagaries of the broader markets. The company’s mission is to deliver consistent, risk-adjusted returns by allocating capital across niche alternative asset classes. Johann Ropers and Benedikt von Michel from the firm talk us through the firm’s flagship investment product, the JMH Absolute Return SICAV SIF.
The traditional equity/ bond asset allocation model is becoming increasingly ineffectual. After a 30 year bull market in bonds and with many yields now in negative territory, equities and bonds are unlikely to continue working as effective offsets to each other. When equities fall, traditional government bonds will not act as much of a counterbalance. JMHAM has therefore created an alternative fixed income portfolio to replace the function historically adopted by traditional fixed income. The firm invests in uncorrelated niche strategies which tap into an exciting opportunity set. We cherry pick the most attractive activities which the banks have been forced to shrink down on account of increasing levels of regulation. This includes a broad range of direct lending strategies which offer a regular stream of interest or “carry”, as well as various relative value or arbitrage strategies formerly adopted by the investment banks’ prop desks. Furthermore, we take a belt-and-braces approach to risk and the portfolio is long volatility in case correlations spike in an extreme market sell-off.
Company: JMH Asset Management Names: Benedikt von Michel (Chief Investment Officer) Johann Ropers (Fund Manager) Email: info@jmham.co.uk Web Address: www.jmham.co.uk Address: 37 Ixworth Place, London SW3 3QH Telephone: 020 7591 2480
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Overall we target a high single digit return stream with a very low correlation to both equity and fixed income markets and downside protection in times of stress, in order to ensure our investors encounter the lowest possible risk.
IF16041
Best Alternative Fund: African Infrastructure Investment Fund
Old Mutual Alternative Investments is Africa’s largest independent alternative asset manager, with over 30 years’ experience in the region. Paul Boynton, the firm’s Chief Executive talks us through the company and its investment strategy.
Company: Old Mutual Alternative Investments Name: Paul Boynton Contact: Doug Thomson, Head of Investor Relations Email: DThomson@oldmutualalternatives.com Web Address: www.oldmutualalternatives.com Address: Mutual Park, Jan Smuts Drive, Pinelands, Cape Town, South Africa Telephone: +27 21 509 3442
Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI) is Africa’s largest independent alternative asset manager, the largest infrastructure equity manager in South Africa and a significant impact fund manager, with 138 team members who manage R56.6-billion. Our long experience investing in African markets mean we have the ability to assess risks associated with each region and company in which we invest, offering our clients reduced risk and exposure to volatility. Our experienced team manages 145 active positions and has 49 realisations. Current conditions in African markets are challenging with declining commodity prices and devaluing currencies negatively affecting growth rates. However, we believe Africa’s longer-term prospects are underpinned by favourable demographics such as a growing middle class, urbanisation and strong GDP growth. Furthermore Africa possesses around 30% of global mineral endowment and 60% of uncultivated arable land, offering a number of exciting future growth opportunities. It is our mission to mobilise capital to participate in the African growth story, in a sustainable way. The firm is divided into four units: African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM); OMAI Development Impact Funds (housing and schools); Old Mutual Private Equity; and OMAI International Fund of Funds. AIIM has six infrastructure funds, 39 investments and 17 exits. Its aim is to invest in private equity infrastructure investments in sub-Saharan Africa, many of which are in innovative projects such as renewable energy. Old Mutual Private Equity (OMPE) has R9.9-billion assets under management and R8-billion capital deployed since 2003. It has one of the best track records in the market with a 31.3% internal rate of return (IRR) and 2.5 times money back (TMB) over the last 15 years. OMAI International Fund of Funds manages three fund of funds (International Fund of Funds I and II, and Africa Fund of Funds). The team’s investment experience includes emerging and developed market fund of funds, corporate finance and direct investments in Africa. Our impact funds invest in assets which benefit lower income households including property, independent schools and retirement developments, among others. Moving forward, our long-term strategy is to strengthen the firm’s position as a leading, pan-African alternative asset manager. Future plans include deepening our current expertise and execution skills in private equity and infrastructure, while broadening our existing sphere of activity in spaces and different African geographies which offer opportunities. Specific projects include landmark gas power generating projects in Ghana and Nigeria. We also have significant exposure to the South African renewable energy market and are keen to expand this in the future.
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IF16039
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Best Relative Value Fund (1 year): The Paris Capital Relative Value Master Fund Ltd
Paris Capital Advisors Paris Capital Advisors is a Hedge Fund Manager that focuses on quantitative trading strategies in global option markets. We caught up with Thomas Korossy to find out more about this dynamic firm and the financial services it offers.
Company: Paris Capital Advisors Name: Thomas Korossy Email: Thomas@parisca.com Web Address: www.parisca.com Address: 25 Cresswell Place, London SW10 9 RB Telephone: +44 207 730 8030
The two principals of Paris Capital Partners, Thomas Korossy and Carlo Georg, have extensive experience in trading and asset management businesses in Europe, the US and Asia. They have been working together for over 20 years in London, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo, holding senior management positions at KBC Financial Products (KBC FP) and its sister company KBC Alternative Investment Management (KBC AIM), where AUM peaked at over $5 billion in global relative value and derivative based strategies. Prior to KBC the principals worked together at D. E. Shaw and Citibank in senior positions in London, New York and Hong Kong. As such the firm has a global reach, and we offer our products to a wide client base including pension and endowment funds, private banks, fund of fund managers as well as high net worth individuals. The Paris Capital Relative Value Master Fund Ltd (the “Fund”), for which we have won this prestigious accolade, is a market neutral fund which aims to generate repeatable and uncorrelated returns to global equity markets and has an inbuilt downside protection against major market corrections. The Fund trades exclusively in short dated listed index options (and futures) and implements a unique combination of Alpha and Protection strategies. The highly liquid strategies are transparent and easy to understand, have rigorous risk management via trading algorithms and a low risk of regulatory, reputational or operational issues. The objective of the Alpha strategies is to generate income through systematically exploiting particularities in global options markets, which are - like other financial markets - driven by human behaviour, and therefore not always efficient. The Fund implements a diverse set of strategies designed for different geographies (US, Europe, Asia, Japan etc.), products (index options and futures, VIX options and futures) and market environments (trending, mean reverting, momentum, crash). The Alpha strategies analyse the interdependence of implied and realised volatilities, options with different strike prices or tenors (term structure and skew) and different markets or products. Each of the strategies have in-built protection through combination of long/short positions or refined entry/exit signals. The objective of the Protection strategies is to provide downside protection against major market corrections through a net long downside volatility exposure (convexity). The Protection strategies are designed to be self-financing, with an expected (almost) flat performance in ‘normal’ years and a potential for large returns in conditions experienced in 2008 or 2011. The protection strategies balance any short option positions of the alpha strategies and protect the Fund even if the exit signals of the individual Alpha Strategies don’t pick up the next market crash. Our unique combination of these two strategies ensures that the future trading activities are clearly defined and can therefore be analysed against historical or simulated market data. This allows a better definition of risk taking and the optimisation of the risk-return profile through detailed analysis of the life strategies (and their various combinations). The Fund’s investment returns are uncorrelated with major equity markets partly due to the fund’s in-build crash protection strategy. Ultimately we work hard to ensure that our clients are not exposed to unnecessary volatility and risk, which helps to secure their returns. Overall 2015 was a good year for the fund, as after almost three years of quantitative easing the economy has finally begun to improve, and we believe that moving forward this positive trend will continue. As such we intend to continue providing the best possible service to our investors in order to capitalize on this improvement.
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IF16021
Client Choice Award: Best Investment Management Firm 2016
Parus Finance was launched in 2002 as a privately owned independent asset management company dedicated to providing strong Return on Investment to clients through its long/short equity strategy.
Company: Parus Finance Website: http://www.parusfinance.com/ Address: 100 Pall Mall SW1Y 5NQ Email: ir@parusfinance.com Phone: + 44 203 178 8301 Fax: + 44 203 178 6319
Based in London, Parus Finance is an independent asset management company regulated by the FCA and managing $1.3bn in assets at the end of 2015. Parus was founded by Fabrice and Edouard Vecchioli. The firm has managed one global long/short equity strategy since 2003, in both hedge fund (offshore QIAIF and US onshore LLC) and UCIT vehicles. This strategy is managed with the objective of generating absolute returns through the cycle by taking a fundamental three to five year view on investments. The strategy seeks to take long and short positions in companies displaying significant secular or cyclical growth or decline characteristics. Therefore it invests solely in single name equities employing a stock-picking methodology supported by fundamental analysis and primary data. The objective is to make money on each position independently, be it long or short, as opposed to hedging the portfolio. This conviction-based strategy ensures a concentrated portfolio of best ideas with low portfolio turnover. The strategy does not use leverage and maintains a low gross exposure (typically 80-120%). The strategy has a long-term, phased variable net exposure through the equity market cycle which has historically ranged between -10% and 95%.
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IF16043
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Best Boutique Portfolio Management Firm - Canada
STRATIGIS Capital Advisors Stratigis Capital is a Canadian boutique that specializes in providing fee based Portfolio Management and sophisticated strategies to high net worth individuals, family offices and wealth managers. We profile this unique company and explore the dynamic strategies employed to ensure clients receive the best possible service.
Company: STRATIGIS Capital Advisors Name: Dan Papulkas Web Address: www. STRATIGIS.ca
Modern wealth management calls for new tools, techniques and agility. In order to meet these requirements the Stratigis Capital (SCA) investment team leverages superior technology and proprietary trade experience in its investment decisions. In addition, SCA has developed a number of best in class proprietary niche strategies in order to provide clients with the best possible level of service and strong returns. The firm partners with experience professionals with a defined skillset and a proven track record to create products that are unique to the marketplace and offer a value added opportunity for the sophisticated investor. Specifically, SCA has partnered with healthcare professionals to offer a suite of products specific to the Canadian small cap HealthCare space- ranging from opportunistic to lending strategies. This combination of award winning investing technology with traditional money management creates the opportunity for higher risk adjusted return with less volatility. This approach is central to the firm’s success, as whilst best in class returns are an important part of any investment program, SCA goes one step further to provide clients access to the management team- to discuss the individuals concerns about markets, strategy or their portfolio. We appreciate the importance of client service, and feel that our model creates a better experience for the investor. Our typical client is successful in their respective field and understand that they need proven investment professionals to manage their hard earned nest egg. They expect nothing less than high levels of expertise and professionalism from their advisors, and therefore we work hard to provide this, both through our superior approach and our dedicated staff. To ensure clients receive the highest possible quality of service we have worked hard to foster a culture where individuals left to work on their core competencies, whilst at the same time working as a team would challenge the status quo and flourish. So far this approach has succeeded and helped us to become a strong competitor in our industry and provide our clients with excellent service and strong returns.
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IF16022
Best Specialist Energy Investment Platform
SICP is a specialist energy investment firm which specifically works on behalf of large family offices and strategic investors. We spoke to co-Managing Partners James Mills and Jonas Jonhede, who provided us with a fascinating insight into the services the firm provides.
SICP is a specialist energy firm that invests on a deal by deal basis, which gives our investor partners greater flexibility, visibility and understanding around how their capital is being deployed. We focus on providing the highest quality direct investment opportunities, combined with a strategic overview of the key long term trends across the global energy sectors. Our transactions are structured to provide long duration real return cash flows, with an emphasis on industrial value creation and active management of the companies our investor partners own. The firm’s approach revolves around one cornerstone investor; we create transactions for them and then offer the solution to other investors. These investments are structured to maximise capital preservation, and the firm uses a deep level of technical understanding and due diligence to mitigate operational risks. We ensure that our investee companies are fully funded in their growth plans and that management and other investors are fully aligned with our value creation strategies. Ultimately, the firm offers a unique combination of strong industrial experience and financial investment expertise. We are comfortable acting as either a minority or control investor, with a focus on deploying growth capital and generating returns through industrial value creation. Name: James Mills Email: James@sicpllp.com Name: Jonas Jonhede Email: Jonas@sicpllp.com Web Address: www.sicpllp.com Address: 7 Old Park Lane Telephone: 0207 255 7740
As part of a family office, SICP is acutely aware of the needs of long term investors, and moving forward we are keen to grow our platform and build upon our relationships with our investor partners. We have created a high quality but cost effective investment structure and use the experience of our network of industrial advisors and corporate relationships to source deals on a flexible and opportunistic basis as market conditions change. The key to the firm’s success is our approach to investor relations, as we truly understand the needs of our clients and what they are looking for in an investment. We also put a strong focus on communicating with our clients, as we believe that the relationship between an investor and an investment firm should always go beyond a mere transaction. Instead, we aim to be a specialist energy advisor to all of our investor partners, providing forward thinking thematic research that helps guide them not only in the transactions they work on with us, but as importantly, their broader exposure to the energy industry.
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IF16029
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Most Innovative FoHF Platform 2016: Thalìa Alternative Sicav (TAS)
Thalia SA Thalia SA are a leading Swiss Alternative Asset Manager offering investment solutions and advisory services for Hedge Fund Managers.
Company: Thalia SA Website: www.thaliainvest.com
With more than ten years of experience in manager selection, portfolio construction and Risk Management, Thalìa positions itself as an experienced hedge fund solution’s provider, able to support both Institutional Investors and sophisticated HNWI/UHNWI clients. The firm’s philosophy and approach to providing investment solutions is based almost entirely on qualitative analysis and on the principle that a portfolio must be primarily based on conviction, and therefore cannot be constructed by relying on quantitative tools alone. The company firmly believes that conviction is the main driver for portfolio construction, and is therefore essential for any Fund Manager. Once the firm’s qualitative assessment is completed it is then complemented by quantitative analysis, risk analysis and an ongoing monitoring process. Thalìa’s investment philosophy translates into an investment process driven by a combination of classic bottom-up manager selection and portfolio construction. Manager selection relies on proprietary and independent research, based on qualitative and quantitative considerations including operational aspects. Portfolio construction integrates the level of conviction in the hedge fund managers and risk management considerations. Ultimately all of this helps the firm to achieve its mission: to search, identify and select the most talented hedge fund managers able to produce above average absolute returns, resulting from a disciplined investment process (transparent, coherent and repeatable), in order to create portfolios that reduce the specific risk of single manager investments, given a predefined risk tolerance. In achieving this, Thalìa’s main competitive advantage is the long-standing experience of its investment professionals and their solid relationships with blue chip Hedge Fund managers, coupled with an institutional investment and portfolio construction process. Additionally, Thalìa’s monitoring process and on-going assessment of risks are additional distinguishing features. The Risk Management unit is involved at a very early stage of the investment process and monitors all the risks from both an individual fund and the overall portfolio perspective. Finally, the independent Operational Due Diligence team offers an important protection against potential frauds, which is proven by the company’s track record. Thalìa has never had a fraud event in its 11 year history, highlighting the skill of this team and the success of the firm strategies.
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IF16038
Best Multi-Asset Class Investment Portfolio Manager - UK
Towry Towry is an award-winning wealth management firm employing around 900 people through a network of local offices across the UK.
Company: Towry Website: www.towry.com
For over 50 years Towry has been providing clients with expert financial planning, investment management and wealth advice. Towry strives to build strong, long-term relationships with its clients, based on professionalism, service and trust. The firm is committed to ensuring that it has the best possible controls, policies and processes to protect its clients’ interests. In addition the firm is committed to social responsibility and having a responsible environmental policy. As such they continually examine further opportunities to help the environment and will be looking to add new initiatives going forwards. Currently the firm undertakes a number of initiatives including employee fundraising, community support and charitable giving to ensure that their work Offering a wide range of solutions from pensions to advice and full lifetime financial plans, the firm is able to support clients at any stage of their life, no matter what their goals.
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IF16040
http://www.acquisition-intl.com/2016-fund-awards
Emerging Market Institutional Money Management Firm:
Venus Capital Management Inc
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Founded in 1994, Venus Capital Management, Inc. advises private funds invested in a variety of asset classes, with a focus on India. We invited Vik Mehrotra to furnish us with a unique insight into this dynamic firm and its investment strategies.
Established in 1994, Venus Capital is an institutional focused India dedicated firm, based in Boston with affiliated offices in London and New Delhi. Its ability to generate alpha and control risks keeps Venus Capital at the forefront of firms sourcing, developing, and executing risk-adjusted returns from India. Venus focuses on direct lending to small and medium enterprises (SME’s) in India, and these are well collateralized loans with low loan to values and protections built in to ensure safe return of capital. Its clients include corporate pension funds, family offices and sovereign funds based in the US and Europe. Company: Venus Capital Management, Inc. Name: Vik Mehrotra Email: vikm@venuscapital.com Web Address: www.venuscapital.com Address: 99 Summer Street, Suite M100, Boston, MA 02110 Telephone: +1-617-423-1901
The firm runs the Venus India Structured Finance Fund, which has invested through a tax efficient structure through Mauritius into an operating company in India that gives loans to SME’s. It manages investments risks by taking all decisions through a four member investment committee, which has to approve loans on a unanimous basis. The biggest challenge Venus currently sees as a business is the appreciation of the USD against emerging market currencies. Though, the Indian Rupee has fared better against GBP and the Euro, it has declined slightly against the USD in last 12 months. The Indian Rupee has done relatively well compared with other emerging market currencies. In the short term, it is a function of money flows into India but commodity deflation is helping Indian currency as import bill has gone down. Venus occasionally hedges against the decline in Indian Rupee, if macro fundamentals are looking bad and its models predict a slowdown of investment flows into the country. However despite these challenges there are a number of opportunities inherent in working in this market. The opportunity to be a shadow lender in India emerges from the fact that there is a tremendous need for growth capital and commercial banks are restricted in many ways to fulfil that need. Banks are not nimble and flexible enough to understand the needs of the small and medium enterprise borrower. After the credit crises of 2008, they have mostly focused on the larger borrowers, leaving opportunities to work with smaller borrowers. In order to successfully work in this market Venus believes that having strong local knowledge is the key. Despite the fact that Venus has a global presence, it also has the local intelligence to judge the credit worthiness and intention of a borrower that matters the most. Venus has developed a strong network of relationships that gets it the qualitative information on a borrower to take the right decision. In addition to its collaborative approach, which ensures that Venus is always up to date with the latest local information, it keeps ahead of emerging trends in the industry by operating customised technology to monitor interest and principal payments. It has numerous databases and subscriptions to Bloomberg and so on for collecting quantitative data. The key remains to collect qualitative data to know the intention of the borrower, in order to stay ahead of the market. However despite its strong investment in technology, for Venus lending is always about the behaviour of the client, especially during trying circumstances and the intentions at the time of borrowing. No balance sheet can tell any quantitative analyst the same. Hence, it has developed the network of people in the financial and banking community, who get Venus this information to verify the credibility of the borrower. Overall Venus feels, its approach to investing in India through direct lending is a prudent one. If one can make private equity like returns of 17% with senior secured debt risk then there is no need to take private equity risks. Venus’s typical loan to value is 33-40%, which highlights how risk averse its strategy is. Looking ahead there are a number of areas into which Venus can grow, providing it with new opportunities. It is evaluating entering the housing finance and purchase of non-performing assets business in India. Banks are being told by central banker to clean up their balance sheets and both of these areas have good opportunities which will keep Venus busy for the foreseeable future. Venus’s chosen asset class offers the opportunity for competitive risk-adjusted returns with reduced volatility in India. Eventually, the operating company has long-term plans for a public offering in India, giving equity investors an exit, assuming favourable operating results, market conditions, and other contingencies, of course. The investors, who want yield can take a redemption from the fund starting in two years. 55