New fund manager leverages wealthy connections

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Former Fisher Funds chief investment officer Warren Couillault has joined forces with the Spencer Family Group to launch new fund management company Richmond Investment Management.

Friday, May 13th 2011, 7:27AM 5 Comments

Richmond's initial offering will be two fund-of-funds which are modelled closely on the Spencer Group hedge fund portfolio, and Couillault cited the Spencer funds intellectual property for his decision not to disclose the underlying managers.

"We're raising some money in Richmond which will seek to replicate as close as it can the existing Spencer Group portfolio, so Richmond will have a portfolio that looks very similar to the Spencer portfolio. It can't look exactly the same because some of the funds are closed, but it will look as close as it can," Couillault said.

"We're not wanting to disclose the identity of the underlying managers because that's our intellectual property and it's the Spencer Group's access to those managers that makes Richmond have a significant point of difference."

The fund has a minimum initial investment of $25,000 but has no requirements for top-up fees as Couillault said they wanted to market the fund firmly at the retail investor.

"We kept the structure pretty simple. We don't have horrible long lock-ups or big minimums or top-ups every year. We're keeping it simple, a traditional retail unit trust PIE."

Couillault said he was confident the fund will perform given the Spencer Group portfolio's track record of returns, and was looking forward to offering ordinary New Zealanders the chance to invest with some world-class fund managers.

"Richmond is offering investors a truly unique opportunity to invest with what we believe are some of the best fund managers in the world. These managers are usually only accessible to super high net worth or institutional investors."

In the wake of the global financial crisis, Couillault also believes the hedge fund managers in question have proven ability to generate absolute positive returns.

"We believe good hedge fund managers are very good at minimising downside, so a portfolio of investments with the right hedge fund is expected to result in a combination of positive returns and low volatility," he said.

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