HFA expands into institutional
Hedge Funds of Australia (HFA) is set to expand its presence in the financial services market, with a plan to open its funds to the Australian institutional market.
HFA managing director Spencer Young says the plan to extend past the group’s current offerings of retail and wholesale hedge funds is just a natural progression within the market. The group’s retail fund offering is growing at more than $6 million per month.
“We already offer both retail and wholesale funds. And at the time we were first established [in 1998], we put in place the infrastructure to offer funds to institutions if and when we needed to down the track,” Young says.
“The institutional investors are becoming closer to making investments into institutional investments, and for us offering funds, it is just the next phase,” he says.
Spencer says with the group’s infrastructure in place, the current funds offered to retail and the wholesale market, are highly suitable to cross over for institutional investors.
“We have found that our existing funds can be tailored to suit the institutional investors. The administration has already been established, we are just waiting for asset consultants to get more comfortable with it,” he says.
Spencer says while he is waiting for the green light from institutional investors, there is time for the group to start the marketing and business relationship with institutional and asset consultants. As part of this process, Spencer says he is also actively seeking to recruit an experienced business development manager but says there is no deadline.
“We are looking at a slow roll out. We are in no rush. The important thing is that we have established a base for the market, that will grow significantly,” he says.
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