AMP Capital adds Ucits real asset funds
Australian fund house AMP Capital has launched two Ucits funds based on existing real asset strategies, a move it says is designed to facilitate greater investor inflows from Europe and Asia.
Versions of its open-ended Global Listed Infrastructure and Global Real Estate Securities funds have been launched on AMP’s new Luxembourg-domiciled Ucits platform, which has $156 million in AUM.
The initial capital, split evenly between the two vehicles, comes from existing AMP clients, says Kerry Ching, managing director for Asia.
She says there has been interest from both Asia as well as Europe for these strategies over the past three years. The Ucits platform “is a means to enable international investors, be they in Europe or Asia, to access our strategies more easily” than allocating to Australia-domiciled funds, or through separately managed accounts, Ching notes.
The Ucits platform will be used to host more versions of existing AMP products in the future, according to the firm.
By lauching Ucits products, the firm is better placed to offer its funds to European instiutions that have an investment mandate to allocate to vehicles under the framework.
The lack of an Asian funds passporting scheme means Ucits remains one of the easiest ways to offer products across the region without having to gain regulatory approval for distribution from authorities in each country.
However, Ching adds that AMP Capital’s Ucits funds mainly target investors that are institutional in nature. “It’s logical to put them onto a Ucits platform rather than [having them] set up separate accounts,” she says, as this helps instiutions to save on administration costs and fees.
The two new Ucits vehicles have the same investment approach and strategy as the funds on which they are based.
The AMP Capital Global Real Estate Securities Fund, which has a 12-year track record, has about $5.9 billion in AUM. It runs a global portfolio of real estate investment trusts and listed property securities, with a focus on Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.
The AMP Capital Global Listed Infrastructure Fund has a three-year track record and runs $897 million in infrastructure investments in energy, transportation, communications and water.
Tapping European and pan-Asian institutional investors will help AMP – which oversees about $120 billion – in its aim to diversify investor inflows geographically from its home base of Australia, where superannuation funds have traditionally been its core investors.