Auckland-based boutique manager, Pathfinder Asset Management, has hired its first full-time research analyst to join founders John Berry and Paul Brownsey.
Berry said new analyst, Karl Geal-Otter, would boost the research capability of the fast-growing fund manager, which has seen it add at least $20 million to assets under management since breaking through the $100 million level late last year.
Geal-Otter is also a member of the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Finance department’s prize-winning research team scheduled to compete at the CFA Institute Research Challenge in Chicago this April.
The AUT team took out the NZ leg of the CFA Institute research competition last October after beating the top finance graduates from six other universities in the challenge.
Berry said the NZ challenge involved compiling a research report on The Warehouse with the results assessed by a panel of local fund managers from Salt, Mint and Castle Point.
At the Chicago event, the AUT team will first have to compete in the Asian regional CFA Challenge with the winning group proceeding to the global finals.
In the interim, Berry said Geal-Otter was busy working on the expanding suite of Pathfinder funds
“Karl will have a particular focus on the firm’s World Equity Fund,” he said.
Berry said while the firm has seen growth in all of its four PIE products, the recently-launched Global Property Fund appeared to have hit a “sweet spot” in the market.
“We’ve seen particularly strong demand from advisers for the Global Property Fund since it launched last July, with consistent inflows of $1.5 million each month,” he said. “The fund is giving NZ investors a real opportunity to diversify away from their strong home bias in property.”