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HENDERSON Group wants to dramatically increase the amount of Asian money it manages as investors start shifting money back into funds, said its chief executive Andrew Formica.
The Australia and London-listed asset management company sources just 5 per cent of its assets from Asia now and 'I really won't be happy until it's at least 15 or 20 per cent of our assets source, so we've got big plans to continue to expand in the region', Mr Formica told reporters yesterday, noting that a distribution office was recently opened in Beijing.
He said he was also trying to break into the lucrative Japanese market - which has US$15 trillion in retirement savings.
'These deposits that are just sitting there, earning hardly anything at the moment. If you can get just a marginal rise in returns to that, it can make a meaningful difference to savers in Japan,' he said.
And while the economy has yet to recover, bright spots are getting brighter, he noted. 'We've had a significant amount of stimulus into the economy, with lower interest rates and quantitative easing. That should be able to reduce the sharp fall in industrial output we've seen and enable economies to move back towards growth.'
Investors' reluctance to put money out has correspondingly 'changed dramatically in the second quarter and has continued in the third quarter', he said.
'People are putting their money in cash at the bank and they're recognising the very low returns they are getting from that and the fact that actually, the world isn't as bad as it possibly could have got to.
'You see that in the increase in investor asset buying, first in fixed income and corporate bonds and now you're seeing it move into equities. We're seeing across our product range an appreciable shift.'
Mr Formica noted that Henderson's stable of funds saw good investment performances across the board, particularly in international equities and China funds.
The recent acquisition of New Star, a retail-focused UK fund manager, is 'exceeding expectations' and Henderson, despite the purchase, has been able to maintain its interim dividends at 1.85 pence a share.
He added that he was trying to find a product provider to bring some funds, including the Henderson New Star Global Financials fund, for sale in Singapore. The fund is tagged as an opportunistic investor in financial services companies.
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