Standard Life Investments, the Edinburgh-based global manager, has started an Australian business.

Standard Life Investments, the investment arm of the Standard Life Group, has appointed James Cooper as its country head for Australia. He had previously serviced the institutional market from the regional headquarters in Hong Kong. The company will launch an interesting initial range of four products in an Australian-domiciled trust system. They are a global REITs fund, a global “inflation” fund, a China fund and an Indian fund. The global inflation fund will invest in inflation-linked (CPI) bonds around the world – one of the few such products which aims to be truly global. Overseas, Standard Life offers a full range of traditional funds management products as well as private equity investments. Its management style for equities is also unusual, involving style rotation through value, growth and momentum rather than adhering to one throughout the business cycle. The closest that Australian managers have come to this is the business cycle style of Contango or the old HSBC (acquired by Challenger). Standard Life calls its philosophy a ‘focus on change’, which provides investors with the opportunity to outperform throughout the cycle. “Clearly, our best opportunities come in the investments where we not only have the deepest insights but also have the greatest conviction that market expectations are going to change,” according to the firm’s web site.