AUI enters fifth joint venture
Australian Unity Investments (AUI) has announced its fifth joint venture, this time with new Asian equities boutique fund manager Seres Asset Management.
Seres, based in Hong Kong, will adopt an active, benchmark-unaware approach to Asian equities.
AUI will distribute Seres’ products in Australia to both the institutional and retail markets, with the first Seres Asian equities fund to be launched in Australia at the beginning of 2010.
It will initially only be available to Australian investors, according to an AUI statement.
Seres will have an initial focus on Greater China, Korea and Singapore, but will later expand to include areas such as India.
AUI head David Bryant said AUI had been considering adding Asian equities opportunities for some time.
“We have seen Asian equities do very well recently and we believe this is a long-term trend, which Australian investors should be building into their portfolios.
“We believe that there are outstanding opportunities in this region for investors”, Bryant said.
Seres’ new chief financial officer will be Evan Erlanson, who most recently worked with Bear Stearns Asia in Hong Kong and earlier with Goldman Sachs in Singapore, while the company’s senior portfolio manager, Dr Ken Lu, has Asian equities research experience, working with JP Morgan and Credit Suisse.
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