Harbour buys global fixed interest fund

Harbour Asset Management is on the hunt and has hit the target buying a global fixed interest fund.

Tuesday, September 28th 2021, 6:07AM

Andrew Bascand.

Harbour Asset Management has agreed to buy the Hunter Global Fixed Interest fund which has more than $1 billion in FUM.

The Hunter Global Fixed Interest Fund is a New Zealand-based PIE Fund with investments managed by PIMCO.

Portfolio management is undertaken by PIMCO’s global bond team led by Andrew Balls in London, along with Sachin Gupta in Newport Beach, California.

Hunter managing director Tony Hildyard says the partnership is a logical one.

“Harbour is a perfect fit for Hunter, sharing the same customer-first philosophy while bringing added resources and product offerings to the table."

Under the newly penned deal, Harbour will become the fund issuer but the fund will remain part of the Hunter Investment Funds scheme.

“We are thrilled to be able to provide our clients with exposure to a responsibly invested and highly rated global bonds strategy,” says Harbour managing director Andrew Bascand.

“Our clients have benefitted from our relationship with T. Rowe Price for global equities for over six years and will now benefit from an expertly managed global bond fund.”

Hildyard will join the Harbour team as senior portfolio specialist and remain responsible for day-to-day oversight and client management of the fund.

“We are excited to have Tony join Harbour - his extensive experience working with global bonds, in particular with PIMCO, makes him a valuable addition to the Harbour team,” Bascand says.

Since its launch in 2017, the fund has been hosted by IIS, who are also major shareholders in Hunter.

The fund is supported by KiwiSaver, superannuation schemes, community trusts and many financial advisers that have seen the fund grow to $1.1 billion since its launch in 2017.

The fund has been successful with strong value added over the benchmark over one, three and five-year periods.

Implemented Investment Solutions’ Anthony Edmonds says that while selling the Hunter Global Fixed Interest Fund was a tough decision, it allowed his business to focus on other growth opportunities.

“Our fund hosting, InvestNow and Hunter businesses have each experienced exponential growth. We have finally had to decide where we focus our energy, which is continuing to grow InvestNow and fund hosting.”

Tags: Andrew Bascand Anthony Edmonds Harbour Asset Management Hunter Investment Management Implemented Investment Solutions pie funds PIMCO