PIMCO’s former man in New Zealand, Tony Hildyard, is roaring back into the market with the launch of new $200 million plus fund managed by his ex-employer.
Hildyard said the new global fixed income fund, to be marketed under the recently-established Hunter Investment Funds brand, was the first PIMCO-managed product structured specifically for NZ investors as a portfolio investment entity (PIE).
He said the locally-registered PIE ‘Hunter Global Fixed Income Fund’ had already attracted above-budget commitments from the NZ institutional market.
“We needed to start with at least $200 million to make this a viable fund from day one. We’re now over our target.” Hildyard said. “I’m pleased we’ve managed to get this outcome from third-party investors. It’s a big step moving from one fund to another, so obviously there is demand.”
He said the global fixed income fund, due to officially launch later this month, was the first of a planned series of underlying Hunter products.
“The aim is to develop a balanced fund offering for the NZ institutional market,” Hildyard said. “I imagine there’s space for at least a quality global equities product as well as other global funds.”
However, for the next 12 months he said Hunter would focus on bedding down and growing support for the PIMCO-managed fund.
As well as the traditional wholesale market, the new Hunter fund could also appeal to “institutional size” financial advisory groups.
“We’re not going to target mum and pop investors but the fund will also be available on the new [direct] InvestNow platform,” Hildyard said.
While PIMCO serves as investment manager, Hunter has appointed Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS) to take care of the NZ regulatory structure under its new fund-hosting capabilities – the first such arrangement for IIS.
As fund-host, IIS is the licensed manager and issuer of the Hunter fund, which has also hired Public Trust as supervisor and BNP Paribas as custodian.
Prior to launching Hunter, Hildyard spent about eight years representing PIMCO in the NZ institutional market before a 2015 restructure at the Australian arm of the global fixed income giant.
In 2007 he resigned as head of Tower Investments after an almost 20-year career with the firm. At Tower, Hildyard also oversaw the group’s PIMCO funds, which now reside in the same form under the Fisher brand.
As well as Fisher Funds, ANZ also offers a version of PIMCO to the NZ institutional market.