News Round Up

Brook goes direct with Rabo, Liontamer offers two new funds, nabInvest takes stake in Pengana Capital, GPG wants more of Tower.

Monday, May 5th 2008, 5:45AM

Brook goes direct with Rabo
Brook Asset Management has started offering its funds direct to investors through RaboPlus.

Three funds; Brook Alpha Fund, Brook Infrastructure Income Fund and Brook Tasman Fund are being offered to investors through Rabo's site.

Rabo already had 10 funds from three other managers on its site. These were from Tower, Asteron and AMP.

Two more from Liontamer
Liontamer is launching two new funds. The first, Fallen Angels, is a basket of 16 companies, which in Liontamer's view, have been oversold relative to their underlying value. These 'fallen angels' have been packaged into a capital protected fund.

The second fund is, COMBI Series 5. This is Liontamer's new 'Food and Fuel' fund offering investors the opportunity to benefit from the future growth of six essential commodities. It is a capital protected investment that provides investors with a boosted exposure to a special commodities linked index. The index contains a mix of important agricultural goods and essential energy resources.

AMP looks for extra advantage

AMP Capital has opened up its cash PIE product for advisers to invest directly rather than via a wrap or through Rabobank.

According to Anthony Edmonds, AMP Capital head of sales and marketing, demand for the Cash Advantage product has been high but many financial advisers have asked for direct access to the fund.

The change will enable advisers who don't use wrap services or would rather not incur a platform fee for accessing what is effectively a cash account to buy the product from AMP directly.

Edmonds said it would also be quicker to invest directly in Cash Advantage than through a wrap.

The fund, which invests directly into a Rabobank cash product, was previously only available through the FNZ and Aegis platforms. Rabobank clients are also able to invest into Cash Advantage.

nabInvest takes stake in Pengana Capital
National Australia Bank's direct investment management business nabInvest has taken a minority stake in Pengana Holdings Limited (PHPL).

Pengana Capital is the operating subsidiary of PHPL and has about A$2 billion in funds under management.

Pengana Capital chief executive Russel Pillemer said, "with nabInvest as a strategic investor we are well placed to embark on our next phase of growth and continue to develop innovative new products."

National Australia Bank launched nabInvest in November 2007 to build in house asset management capability and take substantial equity stakes in boutique investment firms. Its first investment was Northward Capital in November 2007.

Pengana Capital will continue to run as a stand-alone, independent business.

GPG wants more Tower
Guinness Peat Group intends to make a partial offer for Tower and buy and additional 15.30% of the business.

It plans to offer $2.30 per share, which is a 11.1% premium on the latest price.

GPG currently controls 19.70% of Tower.

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