Index company FTSE is establishing an Australian office in Sydney in response to increased interest in its growth weighted indices.

FTSE has advertised for a head of sales, which will be based in Sydney, and will be charged with establishing the office and growing marketing penetration in Australia. A spokesperson for FTSE’s regional office in Hong Kong said the new office was being established in response to a “;great year”; in Australia. FTSE’s growth weighted indices attempt to value a company via its net income, cash flow and book value instead of market price. As well as the growth weighted indices, there has been considerable interest in licensing FTSE’s real estate indices, the spokesperson said. Last week State Street Global Advisers (SSgA) launched a Wealth Weighted Global Equities trust, which tracks the FTSE GWA Developed Index, seeded with $350 million from two institutional clients. Consultant Watson Wyatt advised one of those seed investors. The Sydney-based head of sales for FTSE would also be in charge of building long-term relationships with superannuation funds and consultants. The position requires at least seven years proven experience in selling financial information services to asset managers, superannuation funds and/or investment banks.