Ex-Norwich crew dive into property
Several former Norwich executives have launched a new Melbourne-based investment company to offer a retail unit trust dealing in wholesale property trusts.
Raleigh Pacific has been formed by Geoff Donnelly, who was managing director of Norwich Financial Planning Services until 1996; Dean Turnbull who was head of research at Norwich; and Domenic Sita, who was head of property research at Norwich. The final director is Tony Cunsolo, a Melbourne architect.
The first product from the new fund manager is a multi-manager property fund that will invest in the National Mutual Fund Management Property Fund and GIO Direct Property Composite.
Sita says the aim of the fund is to provide retail investors with the opportunity to access quality wholesale direct property investment portfolios.
"We are putting together a diverse portfolio of AAA-quality investment properties that the retail investor would not normally be allowed to buy units in," he says.
"Normally these funds have a minimum investment of $500,000 or more, but our minimum investment is $10,000."
While the trust will invest in National Mutual and GIO wholesale trusts initially, Sita has not ruled out investing in other wholesale property trusts.
The unit trust has a life of five years. Sita says the property unit trust was launched because of the good returns from property at present.
"We wanted to bring an innovative product to the market," he says. "Property is a niche market that is at the right point in the business cycle for investors," he says.
Future products from the company will probably not be property related."
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