Since the emergence of “Modern Portfolio Theory” and the “Capital Asset Pricing Model” in the late 1960s, institutional investors have taken a quantitatively driven approach to portfolio construction, looking to create portfolio diversification and obtain better risk-adjusted returns by balancing their asset-class exposures. This journey has seen several important advancements in thinking about how to optimally achieve desired results.
Funds that want to take the total portfolio approach first need to get the total portfolio view. To do that they not only need data – and lots of it – but a rock-solid understanding of exactly how they’re going to use it.
Henderson’s first acquisition in Aussie expansion
(Pictured: Rob Adams)
Henderson Global Advisors has made its first acquisition in Australia since setting up shop early this year. The UK-listed manager has acquired all of the Ascalon-affiliated hedge fund manager H3 Global Advisors.
H3 Global specializes in managed futures and commodities investments and has about A$340 million under management. Ascalon bought its 45 per cent stake in 2007 when the manager had just $50 million in AUM.
Chuak Chan, Ascalon’s chief executive, said the sale highlighted his company’s business model of acquiring, actively building and strategically exiting investments when the time was right. “The sale represents a positive outcome for all parties,” he said.
Rob Adams, Henderson’s executive chairman in Australia, said the investment strategies managed by H3 Global were “contemporary and world class and are complementary to our business globally”.
Henderson, which has a lot of Australian shareholders due to its heritage as a former subsidiary of AMP, signaled at its launch function in March that it would be looking to make some selective acquisitions, especially in the alternatives and boutiques space. About 65 per cent of Henderson’s registry is Australian, with Perpetual the largest shareholder, followed by the staff.
H3 Global’s Cayman Islands-registered fund, which is on the BT and Asgard wraps, has not performed very well since inception in 2009, returning a negative 1.67 per cent over that period. It was down 4.35 per cent in the year to September.
H3 Global has offices in Sydney and London. The firm said that working within a global business would give the team the opportunity to fulfill its long-term objectives.
