Harvey Kalman

Equity Trustees has been appointed the responsible entity (RE) for GQG Partners LLC, the specialist global and emerging equities boutique manager founded by ex-Vontobel CIO, Rajiv Jain in partnership with ASX-listed Pacific Current Group.

GQG Partners, which was established in June 2016, has grown quickly, with more than 25 employees, and assets under management of $US4.5 billion (as of 30 April) with clients from the US, UK and Australia.

Equity Trustees’ Executive General Manager, Corporate Trustee Services, Harvey Kalman, said: “It’s exciting to be appointed by an emerging boutique fund manager that has a distinctive hands-on, high conviction approach to investment.

Equity Trustees has worked closely with GQG as well as locally with Pacific Current Group in launching both the GQG Partners Global Equity Fund and GQG Partners Emerging Market Equity Fund.

Pacific Current’s head of distribution, and GQG’s local representative, Stephen Bramley said it was a commercial decision to outsource the RE function to a known industry leader in this service area: “By partnering with Equity Trustees, we can focus on delivering a high level of client service to Australian and NZ investors, confident that all the fiduciary responsibilities are in the capable hands of a proven team of experts”

Mr Kalman added “As a new client, GQG Partners appreciates the benefits that an experienced RE brings to the table; convenience and industry knowledge about all the compliance and regulatory responsibilities involved with overseeing a fund. This means funds managers can get funds to market fast, confident that disclosures are accurate and right up to best practice standards.

“Our role is to take full responsibility for ensuring the fund is operating within the legal framework and that its governing constitution is flexible as it needs to be as well as providing certainty for investors, allowing the fund manager to solely focus on its investment strategy,” Mr Kalman said.

Mr Kalman said the independent RE model was well recognised by those who operate overseas, where this regulatory approach was well established.

“It is accepted practice in most regulatory regimes and the model adopted to ensure that the integrity of their wealth management industries is secure. It has the benefit of ensuring there are no real or perceived conflicts of interest between fund managers and their unitholders, and an efficient method of tapping in to vast reserves of fiduciary expertise and commercial realities facing fund managers.”

The Australian market has been a key focus for GQG Partners since their launch in June last year attracting in excess of $1b from the Australian region.

The commitment to the region has expanded to include Pooled Unit Trusts specifically for Australian and New Zealand wholesale investors. The two GQG Funds now on offer (GQG Partners Global Equity Fund and GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity Fund) have specific ex-tobacco exclusions.

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