The World Series Fund Platform distributes funds packaged under the Nikko AM brands which are sub-advised by third party fund managers. The range includes funds managed by more than 40 fund managers worldwide, including PIMCO, JP Morgan Asset Management, Blue Bay and Franklin Templeton.
Nikko said the platform, “which centres on research conducted out of New York and Sydney”, currently has over $29bn of third-party manager products distributed across Japan, Australia and Singapore.
The firm said it is now expanding the platform to extend it further than the 300 intermediaries it already uses in Asia, with a greater focus on non-Japan Asia, and to increase the scope of providers.
Based in London, Nikko said Devitt will “manage the global third-party manager research and selection functions, while further developing Nikko AM’s manager of manager product line”. The firm added that she will “unify and leverage” Nikko AM’s existing network of teams in New York, Tokyo and Sydney and build out additional capabilities in Europe and other parts of Asia.
Devitt will join Nikko from Ignis Asset Management which she had joined in September last year as head of client strategies, leading the firms Ignis Advisors business.
She is also the appointed investment sub-adviser to the City Financial Asian Absolute Growth Fund, an Asia focused multi-manager fund with approximately $60m in assets under management. Nikko said City Financial intends, concurrently with Devitt’s start and subject to regulatory approvals, to appoint Nikko AM as sub-advisor to the City Financial Asian Absolute Growth Fund.
Charlie Metcalfe, President of Nikko AM Europe, said: “As Asian specialists, when we don’t have the investment capability in-house, we may partner with external managers to provide interesting, best-in-class solutions, packaged under the well-recognised Nikko AM brand and distributed to investors via our intermediaries.
“Likewise, Nikko AM’s World Series Fund Platform has established itself as a unique channel for many of the world’s leading asset managers to tap into our extensive distribution network in Asia. Growing investor demand, coupled with Nikko AM’s distribution arrangements and the barriers to entry for non-Asian managers, means that the World Series Fund Platform has huge scope to develop further.”
