After a three-year hiatus from the industry, former Tower Investments chief, Sam Stubbs, has emerged as the backer of a newly-licensed entity listed on the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) website last week.
The FMA managed investment scheme (MIS) manager register lists Stubbs as the trading name associated with the just-licensed firm, Simplicity NZ.
According to the Companies Office database, Simplicity NZ was formed last May with Stubbs as sole shareholder and director.
This January, ex Citigroup NZ chief, Mark Fitzgerald, also joined the Simplicity board as director.
Stubbs headed Tower Investments from early 2008 before the-then new owners, Fisher Funds, cleaned out the executive ranks in April 2013.
Previously, he served a brief stint as CEO of the now-defunct finance company, Hanover Group, after returning to New Zealand in 2007 from a 10-year career with Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong.
Stubbs declined to comment on his plans for Simplicity.
The Companies Office classifies Simplicity as a “superannuation funds” business.
Coincidentally, another funds management firm associated with Stubbs in the start-up phase also earned its MIS licence last week.
Castle Point Funds Management, formed in 2013 by other Tower Investment castaways – Richard Stubbs, Stephen Bennie, Jamie Young and Gordon Sims – is the 23rd manager to join the MIS ranks.
The four founders hold minority stakes in Castle Point’s ultimate holding company, RAW Capital Partners NZ. Interests associated with Auckland-based hedge fund multi-manager NZAM have a 35 per cent slice of RAW while Guernsey firm, RCP Holdings, owns 44 per cent of the company.
As a boutique Australasian equities firm Castle Point offers a retail product under the Ranger Fund name as well as the Trans-Tasman Strategy open to wholesale investors only.
According to the latest Aon Hewitt NZ investment survey, the Castle Point Ranger Fund has about $12 million under management. Aon also lists Castle Point as managing $8 million in the balanced fund category.