Altius Asset Management, one of Australian Unity’s boutique funds, will double its funds under management to $300 million with a mandate from an institutional investor.
The Sydney-based bond investor was established in February. Altius started managing money in June with $150 million in seed money from Australian Unity. The firm employs four investment professionals, recently hiring Vanessa Thomson who was a senior research analyst at ING Investment Management.
Chris Dickman, an Altius senior portfolio manager, gave no target the firm wishes to attain in funds under management. He did not disclose the name of the fund who will give the firm $150 million to invest.
Altius invests in Australian government bonds, the Australian corporate debt market, non-Australian companies who issue Australian dollar debt in Australia and Australian companies who issue Australian-dollar bonds offshore.
The firm’s chief investment officer is Bill Bovingdon, the former chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management Ltd. in Australia. Bovingdon says from June to December Altius has managaed an abosolute return of “over 5 percent.”
