Lars Jaeger
GAM Investments yesterday announced the win of a new Australian mandate for its GAM Systematic Alternative Risk Premia strategy. AMP Capital, one of Australia and New Zealand’s leading specialist wealth management companies, plans to make an initial investment of AUD 135 million in a mandate that will manage a diversified portfolio of risk premia.
GAM Systematic’s alternative risk premia portfolios typically target around 15 risk premia strategies across the style categories of value, momentum and carry. The team, led by Dr. Lars Jaeger, uses a disciplined research process to design, systematically implement and trade the various risk premia. The team will run the segregated mandate with a 10% volatility.
Lars Jaeger, head of alternative risk premia, said: “Our investment strategy has the potential to generate performance patterns which so far have largely remained uncaptured, or accessible only to the most sophisticated hedge fund managers. The team at GAM has more than 13 years’ experience in building and executing alternative risk premia strategies. In our investment process, we allocate capital across our portfolio based on each individual component’s expected drawdown, rather than based on volatility. Overall this gives us a more stable portfolio and one that is more protected in extreme market conditions.”
Celine Kabashima, portfolio manager at AMP Capital, said: “The strategy plays an important part in our absolute return program by providing our portfolios with diversification benefits against traditional asset classes and attractive risk-adjusted returns in a liquid and cost-efficient manner. The strategy acts as a complement to our existing suite of absolute return and risk premia strategies. It also offers a solution with a higher volatility profile that meets the objectives of our portfolios.”
Rossen Djounov, GAM’s head of Asia, added: “Australia is a key region for GAM, where we are continuing to grow. We now manage AUD 5.2 billion for Australian clients, who benefit from our knowledge and experience in alternative fixed income, equities and quantitative strategies. We are committed to the Australian market and see significant potential to introduce products to the region to help investors reach their investment aspirations.”
