The group says it is a key component to its investment strategy, of which they retain autonomy over following its purchase by BTIM earlier this week.
The practice of soft closing its portfolios is a high profile aspect of its offerings that has been in place since JOHCM launched its first Oeic in 2001. In conjunction with individual fund managers, the group determines the maximum amount of money they are prepared to accept. Once any fund reaches its predetermined size limit, it is closed to new investors. JOHCM Equity Income was soft closed in February when it reached £750m.
In discussing the fall out of the UK boutique’s change in ownership, JOHCM say all managers have been tied in and none will be leaving as a consequence of the deal. Managers have signed up to deals of varying lengths, between one and three years.
According to JOHCM, fund managers’ consideration from the sale of their equity stake in the group is being deferred to ensure retention. “They will receive part of their consideration in cash upon completion of the deal while the balance is phased over four years.”
Plans are also going ahead with new product launches. Earlier this year JOHCM launched the Global Emerging Markets Opportunities portfolio and in September it intends to offer two Asia ex Japan products.
One of the two Asia funds will feature a small and mid cap bias while the other will be run on an all-cap basis. Silver Metis Capital Management, a Singapore based asset management boutique the group acquired in May, will run the funds. Silver Metis managers Samir Mehta and Cho-Yu Kooi have run similar mandates to the planned launches via Cayman-domicled funds. The assets of these portfolios are to be migrated into the JOHCM Oeic when the funds launch.
In keeping with the rest of JOHCM’s range, the two Asian portfolios will cap inflows, although the ceilings have yet to be defined. They will also include performance fees.
