Sanlam head of asset management Tom Caroll has explained why the firm is focusing on specialist and thematic funds, saying the industry really doesn’t need more plain vanilla global or UK equity products.
In the latest Portfolio Adviser video, Carroll says looking in from the outside “it must look like we’ve just gone on a buying spree”, but it is very much about bringing in specific and targeted teams to the business.
Over the past couple of years, Sanlam has made a handful of fund and team acquisitions. Among them eight funds from Smith & Williamson, including Chris Ford’s Artificial Intelligence fund; a global equity team from Martin Currie; a fixed income team and three funds from Tideway Investment Partners; as well as wealth manager Thesis Asset Management.
Carroll explains how the acquisitions came about as part of Sanlam’s three-year growth plan devised at the end of 2019 which included building a business that is of interest to third parties – and filling the necessary gaps in expertise.
“The last thing this industry needs is me coming out with another standard global equity fund,” he says. “There are 440 global equity funds and 340 UK equity funds – no one is going to thank me for coming out with yet another product in these areas.”
As such, the business is focusing on thematics and specialist investment. Funds that are truly active and can’t easily be replicated by an ETF, Carroll adds.
“We decided when we looked at the skill base we have and what was required for the market we would go down the specialist or thematic route,” he says.
“Ideally we would like to have some funds which are thematic and we will continue to build that up over time, but more important is to have all the funds we are promoting externally be differentiated and specialist in some way.”
He also touches on why thematic investing is so important and where the opportunities are.
Watch the video above for more.
