COULD YOU ELABORATE ON YOUR PLANS FOR CARRET?
Carret was founded on the principal belief that the fundamental value investing will always prevail over the long term. Additionally in Asia, the client service at most private banks has been inconsistent, particularly regarding ultra high net worth individuals ; the banks roll out ineffective, one size fit all strategies. We have brought Carret to Asia to work with family believe that Ultra High Net worth clients deserve a differentiated and focused investment strategy.
WHICH MARKETS IN ASIA DO YOU PLAN TO FOCUS?
We believe in local presence in Singapore and Hong Kong. Proximity is important.
THERE IS AN INCREASING NUMBER OF IAMs IN SG AND HK. WHERE DO YOU SEE YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE?
For most parts IAM are two person shops set up on the back of a strong relationship with private bankers. That's fantastic, but there are piratical issues. What happens if a banker is on leave or falls illl? How is it logistically possible for one or two bankers to access a global network of hundreds to access a global network of hundreds of types of products?
Carret has a strong 53 year old history and id built on the back of existing family office clients, a number of product experts and an amazing network for deal flow. According to our family office investors, consistency, depth and continuity of investment services are always big issues with IAMs.
Additionally, we have number of experts in this space,whereas it's impossible for smaller shops to begin accessing this space at a meaningful level. Many banks have stopped selling alternatives since 2008 financial crisis, mainly because of the conservatism of head office and the pressure form the regulators, we have developed a stable of core investments in the alternative space that we are very excited about.
WHAT KIND OF TEAM DO YOU PROPOSE TO HAVE ON THE GROUND IN HK & SG?
The core of our team will be experienced professional's in the alternative and asset allocation spaces. These professionals will be surrounded by experienced private bankers. On top of that, we are already dealing directly with many family offices in Asia, Europe and America. We are happy with small focused teams in HK and SG. Having too any clients will ultimately lead to one size fit all strategy of the banks.
WHERE DID YOU SEE THE NEED FOR A SEPARATE IAM FOR Family OFFICES?
There are many terms and strategies surrounding the space of family office. Our strategy and solutions are quite straight forward. We target clients in the $50 million to $500 million space- clients who have built up considerable wealth and deserve a tailored solution, but don't want to hire a dedicated family office team. At the product level, we also target some of Asia's largest family offices, but these are more specific solutions as opposed to overall investment needs.
Looking at the issue differently. most IAMs start with a handful of strong client relationships, it is difficult for them to expand and add client relationships, since there is no scale-ability. Given that Carret is a family office network, we are naturally perceived as being on the same side of the client.
DO YOU HAVE ANY AUM TARGETS FOR NEXT 12 MONTHS?
We have about $2 billion of AUM and expect to grow this substantially by the end of 2016.