London (HedgeWorld.com) — A team of Australian executives and Europe-based Gottex Group joined forces in a new firm to offer absolute return portfolios to Australian financial planners and direct investors. The portfolios will include alternative investments, partly via a Gottex fund of hedge funds, as well as traditional styles.
The joint venture, called Select Asset Management, started this month. Its chief executive officer, Clayton Freind, is the Gottex representative in Australia. Select’s chief investment officer, Dominic McCormick, was previously responsible for developing asset allocation and investment strategies at Australia’s Bridges group and was head of research at Bridges. For the past year or so, he has been an independent investment consultant to financial services firms.
Of the two initial Select diversified portfolios, one focuses on a defensive approach while the other is growth oriented. Both invest across a wide range of strategies. The Gottex fund of funds is only one of the alternative investments made available by Select, says Gottex chief investment officer Peter Bennett. The new asset manager plans to offer Gottex Market Neutral Fund on a stand-alone basis as well as in diversified portfolios.
“We are focusing on building absolute return portfolio solutions designed to preserve capital and accumulate wealth over the medium to long term,” said Mr. McCormick in a statement.
“Select will invest across traditional and alternative asset classes via high-quality absolute return-focused managers (including boutiques) as well as some direct and listed investments,” he added. “The hedge fund expertise and access provided by Gottex is an important component, albeit only a part of this.”
The Select team includes Brendan Foley as chief financial officer, Roger Campbell as chief operating officer and David Yale as chief technology officer. The firm is located in Sydney while Mr. Freind works out of Perth.