The Wellington-headquartered Harbour Asset Management has bought the $1 billion plus Hunter Global Fixed Interest Fund for an undisclosed amount.
In a note to clients this morning, Harbour chief, Andrew Bascand, said the firm would absorb the flagship Hunter Investment Funds product under a deal inked last week.
“Harbour is a perfect fit for Hunter, sharing the same customer-first philosophy while bringing added resources and product offerings to the table,” Bascand said. “We are thrilled to be able to provide our clients with exposure to a responsibly invested and highly rated global bonds strategy. Our clients have benefitted from our relationship with T. Rowe Price for global equities for over 6 years and will now benefit from an expertly managed global bond fund.”
As well as boosting assets under management by more than $1 billion, the Hunter fund fills the global fixed income gap in the Harbour product suite.
Harbour manages Australasian equities and local fixed income in-house while fronting a T Rowe Price global equities fund.
Launched in 2017 by industry veteran, Tony Hildyard, the Hunter fund was an early portfolio investment entity (PIE) featuring global fixed income giant PIMCO as underlying manager.
Hildyard will remain in charge of the Hunter global fixed income fund under Harbour ownership.
He said in a client note this morning that “the issuer and manager of the Hunter Global Fixed Interest Fund (the Fund) will change from Implemented Investment Solutions Limited (IIS) to Harbour
Asset Management Limited (Harbour). I will be joining the Harbour team and will remain your key contact on this Fund”.
“In all other respects the Fund will remain unchanged, with its mandate and underlying investment manager remaining as PIMCO and the other key providers of the New Zealand PIE continuing. Your fee,
reporting and client servicing arrangements will remain the same.”
The change of the Hunter fund ownership officially starts on September 30.
However, the buy-out excludes the recently established Hunter Diversified Funds offered by Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS) and available via the related InvestNow platform (and KiwiSaver scheme).
IIS acts as fund host for the Hunter products, including the now Harbour-owned global fixed interest strategy. The Wellington-based firm, headed by Anthony Edmonds, is also half-owner of Hunter Investment Management with Hildyard holding the remaining 50 per cent of the company.
Edmonds said the Hunter Balanced and Growth Fund would assume the new Foundation brand with InvestNow taking on investment oversight. “
“The Foundation Series Balanced and Growth Funds will be managed to the same investment philosophy, and using the same underlying investment specialists including PIMCO and AMP Capital, so it’s business as usual,” he said.
Both the fees and underlying service providers would also remain the same post the change to Foundation.
In 2017 Hildyard said Hunter intended to roll-out other funds over time including an international equities strategy after building scale in the PIMCO-managed global fixed interest product.
The Hunter fund proved popular almost from day one, starting with $200 million commitments from seed investors and growing to over $1 billion as at the end of June this year.
Prior to establishing 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.