Certitude announces new fund to meet growing demand for credit
Australian global investment provider Certitude Global Investments (Certitude) and leading US investment manager, Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC’s (Columbia Management), has announced an exclusive partnership to manage and distribute Columbia Management’s funds to retail and wholesale investors in Australia and New Zealand.
The first product Certitude will bring to market is the Columbia Management Credit Fund (‘the Fund’) which has been seeded by a prominent family office.
Columbia Management is one of the largest dedicated asset managers in the US and actively manages approximately US$341 billion in assets, including US$167 billion in global fixed income. Columbia Management is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, a leading US based firm with $708 billion in assets under management.
Certitude, a leading provider of global investment manager skill in Australia, will provide access to the Fund, to the local retail market including; research houses, platforms, dealer groups, financial advisers, family offices and multi-managers.
A variation of the fund was previously only available to US investors. Managed by Tom Murphy, Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Investment Grade Credit at Columbia Management, since 2002, the Columbia US Credit Fund has consistently outperformed its benchmark over the past 4 years, with a return of 10.32 per cent for 2012.
The timing of the Fund launch complements the shift of Australian and New Zealand investors who are demanding greater international exposure in their portfolios.
“We continue to see an increase in interest for global investment solutions throughout the region. Australian and New Zealand investors are beginning to understand that investing onshore only provides them with 2 per cent of the entire investment opportunities and it is time to go global. There are great opportunities out there and the Columbia Management Credit Fund has already proved this by sparking great interest from Australian Investors,” said Craig Mowll, CEO of Certitude Global Investments.
Mowll continued: “Columbia has a great reputation and is a leading long term investment manager in the US and we believe that this will transfer well here. We believe the current market provides an opportune time to bring the Columbia Management Credit Fund to Australian retail and wholesale investors.”
Certitude aims to identify the best active investment managers in the world and make them available to Australian investors.
Tom Murphy, Head of Investment Grade Credit, Columbia Management said:
“Certitude represents some of the world’s leading investment managers and we are happy to join this partnership with the launch of the Columbia Management Credit Fund. Research shows us that Australian and New Zealand investors are looking for credit. Our in-depth knowledge of credit securities combined with our extensive experience in identifying investment opportunities for our clients globally continues to provide us with understanding around how to support retail investors.”
“The Columbia Credit Fund provides access to a diverse portfolio of actively managed credit securities issued by mostly investment grade global corporates. We seek to deliver repeatable strong performance, with the underlying strategy delivering consistent results since inception.”
