Australian investment boutique, Hyperion Asset Management, has launched a portfolio investment entity (PIE) version of its Global Growth Companies Fund to cater to growing demand for a tax-efficient vehicle from NZ clients.
Wellington-based fund-hosting firm, Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS), provides the NZ legal wrapper for the Hyperion PIE, which went live at the end of February.
Mark Arnold, Hyperion chief investment officer, said the high-conviction growth manager has seen “strong support” from both retail and institutional investors in NZ.
“We regard New Zealand as a very important market for Hyperion,” Arnold said. And the new PIE fund shows “long term commitment the New Zealand market, and those investors who have been loyal to Hyperion”.
Founded in 1996, the Brisbane-based manager – part of the Pinnacle Investment Management multi-affiliate group – has made a concerted push into the NZ market in the last few years after building a solid following in the Australian institutional and financial advisory markets.
The manager has proved popular among NZ advisers, too, in addition to winning some institutional mandates, notably a global equities gig with the Government Superannuation Fund a couple of years ago.
However, David Batty, Pinnacle head of NZ distribution, said many investors and consultants on this side of the Tasman prefer “PIEs as a simpler and more tax efficient solution”.
IIS has appointed MMC as registrar for the Hyperion fund with BNP Paribas and Public Trust as custodian and supervisor, respectively.
Jason Orthman, Hyperion deputy CIO and lead portfolio manager, said the new PIE holds the underlying assets directly rather than service as a feeder fund to the existing Australian unit trust (AUT).
“This was a costlier and more complex option for us but we believe it offers NZ investors with the most tax efficient and cost effective vehicle possible,” Orthman said. “While we obviously expect the PIE to be a success we remain agnostic in terms of how investors can access the global strategy. For example New Zealand Investors can invest in the global strategy via either the AUT, HYGG (active ETF), and now the PIE.”
The Hyperion PIE fund carries an annual fee of 0.74 per cent, according to the just-released product disclosure statement, with an estimated buy-sell spread of 0.3 per cent.
Both Arnold and Orthman also operate as lead portfolio managers for Hyperion, which currently boasts more than A$13 billion across its three strategies – two covering Australian stocks plus the global equities fund.
Hyperion favours a concentrated portfolio approach focused on quality, long-term growth stocks. Since inception in June 2014 to the end of January this year, the Hyperion global fund has returned an annualised 21.2 per cent compared to the 14.4 per cent benchmark result for the benchmark MSCI World Accumulation Index (in Australian dollar terms).
Identified with the sun, Hyperion is one of the more “obscure” Greek gods, according to Wikipedia, noted in mythology as the first to understand the movement of celestial bodies and seasons by “diligent attention and observation”.