Advance ties up MIR

Advance Asset Management has Australia’s most talked about fund manager all to itself, having signed Michael Triguboff’s highly successful MIR to an exclusive retail distribution deal, which will see the acclaimed boutique fund manager offered to the retail market for the first time.

The deal will see St George bank-owned Advance offering a new large cap Australian equities fund to investors, which will be exclusively managed by MIR.

The Advance Concentrated Australian Share Fund, which will be available through Advance’s retail and wholesale products and other platforms, opened for inflows yesterday, and hopes to attract $600 million from retail investors by the end of the year.

The deal is a big win for MIR. With close to $2 billion under its belt, the offering of the new fund has the potential to increase the contrarian value manager’s funds under management by over 30 per cent by December.

Triguboff said he was confident Advance would give MIR, which has made significant inroads into wholesale channels since it was launched in 2003, recognition in the retail market. He said it made more sense to let Advance take MIR to that market, instead of the group having to do it itself.

“Outsourcing our retail distribution capability, and focusing on what we do well — investment research — is better for everyone concerned,” he said.

Triguboff said the deal with Advance would not affect its relationship with Equity Trustees, which will remain the responsible entity of MIR’s wholesale trusts, which will continue to be available through channels outside the Advance system.

Excellent performance wasn’t the only reason why MIR — named Money Management Fund Manager of the Year in both the Australian equites and rising star categories this year — was selected for the lucrative deal, according to Advance managing director Kate Mulligan.

“MIR is an excellent manager. Obviously there’s the performance — it was 44 per cent to June, which is way out in front of the market — but there’s also the process that Michael has with the combination of ‘quant’ and ‘qual’ together, and the concentration of the portfolio, which is quite unique,” she said.

Mulligan said she was confident Advance’s open ended contract with MIR would continue well into the future.