Less than five years after inception the Wellington-based Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS) has raced to more than $1 billion in funds under management, according to managing director, Anthony Edmonds.
Breaching the billion-dollar barrier – or achieving ‘full bar status’ in industry parlance – is a significant step for any NZ-based firm.
“Despite committing considerable resources this year to gaining a managed investment scheme (MIS) licence under the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC), we’ve also increased our funds under management by almost $200 million already in 2015,” Edmonds said. “That’s a great testament to the strength of the IIS team, Russell Investments expertise and support from our underlying investors.”
IIS, which became the 10th licensed MIS manager earlier this year under the tough new FMC rules, markets a range five Russell Investments PIE funds to retail and institutional investors.
“Pleasingly, we have seen strong support and growth from both the wholesale and retail segments of the industry since establishing the Russell Investment Funds in December 2011,” Edmonds said.
He said about 40 per cent of IIS funds under management was currently sourced via retail channels with “financial advisers playing an important role in the process”.
According to Edmonds, the IIS team, including founding employee and shareholder, Andrew Brockway, has been bolstered by third-party service providers such as fund administrator MMC, legal firm DLA Piper, and Deloitte.
He said the IIS funds were also poised for further growth under Russell Investments’ new owners, TA Associates and Reverence Capital.
As reported on Investment News NZ (IN NZ), the US private equity firm joint venture bought Russell Investments from short-term owners London Stock Exchange last month for about US$1.15 billion after a lengthy sales process.
“The new owners of Russell Investments have proven experience in growing funds management operations,” Edmonds said. “We look forward to working with them.”
As at June 30 this year Russell Investments – including the IIS funds that at the time totalled just over $900 million – reported funds under management of almost $2.8 billion, ranking it the 10th largest NZ manager in the FundSource rankings.