In this newly created role, David will support Pinnacle’s global growth initiatives and provide strategic guidance to Affiliated investment managers, with a focus on further enhancing client outcomes.

David brings more than 30 years of financial services experience in investment research and consulting. For the past 23 years, he was Co-Founder of Zenith Investment Partners, where he served as CEO & Investment Director.

“Over the past two decades, I’ve worked closely with many Pinnacle executives and Affiliated fund managers as the Group has grown into one of Australia’s strongest and most respected financial services organisations,” said Mr Wright.

“The client-focused platform Ian Macoun and the team has built is globally unique, and there is no doubt there are significant opportunities to further extend its reach. I look forward to working closely with the Pinnacle team and Affiliated investment managers.”

Ian Macoun, Pinnacle Founder and Managing Director commented on the appointment: “David’s contribution to the investment management industry to date has been profound. Just as Pinnacle was built from the ground up on the belief that there was a better way to deliver excellence in investment management, David founded a leading research business that set new standards of quality and integrity, to the great benefit of advisers and investors across the country,” said Mr Macoun.

“This level of integrity, ambition, and commitment to excellence is exactly what we value at Pinnacle. As we continue to expand our multi-affiliate model and broaden asset class diversification to meet evolving investor demands, David brings an extensive breadth of experience and knowledge. He will play a key role in our success well into the future.”

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Michael Putica

Pinnacle Investment Management Group Limited (ASX:PNI) (Pinnacle) is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Putica as Managing Director, Americas.

The appointment further expands Pinnacle’s distribution footprint in the key North American market.

Prior to joining Pinnacle, Michael was Head of Sales, Americas, for State Street Global Markets’ Portfolio Solutions business. He forged a 16-year career at State Street, working in Australia for the first 11 years, before re-locating to the US.

“Within its unique business model, the Pinnacle Group is growing a formidable and very diverse network of affiliated boutique investment managers. I look forward to working with these world class Affiliates and being part of the continued growth of the Group’s global distribution footprint,” said Mr Putica.

Based in Southern California, Michael will focus on the ongoing development of Pinnacle’s institutional and wholesale client book across North America. He’ll work with Pinnacle’s east coast-based Managing Directors, Jack Kirkpatrick and Alison Maschmeyer.

“Pinnacle and its Affiliates have clients in 44 countries with the United States being our largest market outside of Australia by assets under management. Eight of Pinnacle’s fifteen Affiliates currently have clients in North America,” said Andrew Chambers, Pinnacle’s Head of International Distribution.

“We are committed to accelerating our business growth in the Americas, and Michael’s senior appointment underscores our commitment to servicing the world’s largest addressable investor market.

“I have known and respected Mike for many years and we are thrilled to welcome a professional of his calibre who is so highly regarded by leading institutional investors and investment consultants in both North America and Australia.”

In November 2021, Pinnacle seeded its first North American-based Affiliate, Langdon Equity Partners. The specialist global small caps investment boutique was launched in partnership with Greg Dean, former Principal Manager at Cambridge Global Asset Management.

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Winston is a leading third-party marketing and distribution firm with a strong track record of raising early-stage seed capital for new boutiques, supporting the retail distribution efforts of open-ended funds, and executing successful closed-ended capital raisings.

Upon completion of the transaction, in which Pinnacle will acquire 100% of the Winston business, four Winston sales executives will join Pinnacle’s retail distribution team led by Ramsin Jajoo, Pinnacle’s Director, Head of Retail.

“This is an important investment in the continued expansion of Pinnacle’s retail distribution capabilities that will deliver our multi-affiliate network additional resourcing across Australia and help in bolstering our entire Group’s ability to scale and grow,” said Mr Jajoo.

“Over the past 15 years, Pinnacle has developed what is now a market-leading retail distribution team that connects with more than 21,000 intermediaries, including financial planners, brokers and wholesale consultants. The retail distribution footprint spreads across the Australian and New Zealand intermediated market and is reinforced by proprietary business intelligence and data analytics technology.

“Adding highly credentialed executives such as Winston’s founding partners Stephen Robertson and Andrew Fairweather, along with the broader team, further enhances our presence and strong market relationships.

“In particular, this transaction provides Pinnacle with on-the-ground representation in Western Australia for the first time, with Andrew Fairweather to continue residing in Perth upon transitioning into the Pinnacle business.”

Andrew Fairweather, Founding Partner of Winston Capital Partners said joining forces with Pinnacle is a transaction that will deliver strong outcomes for investors.

“We thank our valued partners who we’ve worked with during almost a decade of success in third-party retail distribution. We are now thrilled to join another success story in the Australian asset management industry and work with an incredibly high-performing family of investment boutiques,” said Mr Fairweather.

Stephen Robertson, Co-Founding Partner of Winston Capital Partners also commented, saying both Pinnacle and Winston have shared the same values and goals over many years.

“We share Pinnacle’s belief that investors can achieve stronger client outcomes in a boutique environment, where they’re not distracted by non-investment functions. The Pinnacle Group’s long-standing mission of enabling better lives through investment excellence is one that very much aligns with what has motivated all of us at Winston over many years.

The acquisition follows the announcement of Pinnacle’s fully underwritten dividend reinvestment plan, in which funds are to be primarily used to acquire an additional 10% stake in Coolabah Capital Investments (CCI), taking Pinnacle’s total equity ownership of CCI to 35%.

Winston was a distribution partner of CCI, and the existing distribution rights will be transferred to Pinnacle as part of the transaction. Following a brief transition period, Winston’s executives will end all existing distribution partnerships with non-Pinnacle affiliated investment managers.

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The A$170m mandate to the Aikya Global Emerging Markets Strategy is the first secured by the UK-based investment boutique after being established by a team of highly experienced Emerging Markets investors in March 2020.

Aikya is an affiliate of Pinnacle Investment Management Group Limited (ASX:PNI) (Pinnacle). Pinnacle is a minority equity partner and provides distribution services and other non-investment support functions.

Aikya Portfolio Manager, Ashish Swarup, said the appointment demonstrates a high degree of confidence in Aikya’s well-established Emerging Markets investment processes.

“We are pleased to be partnering with a forward-thinking Australian superannuation fund, with a sound reputation for investment acumen and responsible investing,” said Mr Swarup.

“We follow a disciplined investment process that focuses on identifying businesses with the highest quality of stewardship, which requires deep understanding of the various jurisdictions where we invest. The team has many years’ experience investing in emerging markets, having worked together through previous market cycles.”

Pinnacle Investment Management Director, Institutional Distribution, Wes Campbell, also commented on the appointment.

“Aikya’s experienced investment team is a global leader when it comes to Emerging Markets and after just a few months since coming together as Pinnacle’s sixteenth investment boutique we are delighted to secure this major mandate,” said Mr Campbell.

“Importantly, legalsuper members can rest assured Aikya’s intensive focus on stewardship and ESG factors means funds will not flow into companies with negative social utility such as coal, gambling, tobacco and arms manufacturers.”

Legalsuper CIO, Norman Zhang, said: “legalsuper’s scale and agility allow us to pursue truly innovative investment opportunities and Aikya aligns well with this strategy. We are confident in their capability to protect capital and deliver healthy long term returns from socially responsible businesses in this asset class.”

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Five former senior members from Stewart Investors are among the founding members of new London-based investment boutique, Aikya Investment Management (Aikya).

The investment boutique, specialising in emerging markets, will be based in London and becomes the first European-based affiliate of Pinnacle Investment Management Group Limited (ASX: PNI) (Pinnacle).

The former Stewart Investors team members include Ashish Swarup, Tom Allen, Alan Nesbit, Michael Summers and Alex Khosla.

Mr. Swarup was the Lead Portfolio Manager on several Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific strategies offered by Stewart Investors. Mr. Allen was co-Manager with Mr. Swarup on a number of these strategies.

Other founding members of the firm are former Fidelity Institutional Asset Management (FIAM) Emerging Markets All Cap Strategy Portfolio Manager, Rahul Desai and former Income Partners Asset Management Senior Analyst, Trevor Fung.

Mr Desai was Assistant Portfolio Manager to Mr Swarup on the FIAM Emerging Markets All Cap Strategy for four years, before taking over as Lead Portfolio Manager in 2014. Combined, the new Aikya team has significant experience investing in emerging markets, through multiple market cycles.

The majority of the Aikya team have all worked closely together on Emerging Markets strategies at leading investment firms, allowing us to forge strong relationships and gain an intricate understanding of the compelling investment opportunities within Emerging Markets across the globe,” said Aikya Portfolio Manager, Ashish Swarup.

“We believe our combined experience and knowledge can now better serve investors in an independent, investment-led boutique, majority owned by the investment team,” added Mr Swarup.

Pinnacle is Aikya’s minority equity partner and will provide non-investment support functions including a distribution force of 30 people located in London, New York, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland and industrial grade middle office and infrastructure services.

“Since opening our London office in 2018 we have made great in-roads into the European marketplace and we now look forward to supporting the growth of our first European-based affiliate investment manager, said Pinnacle Investment Management, Managing Director, Ian Macoun.

“We believe Pinnacle and Aikya are a natural fit. Both teams have a strong belief that investment excellence is best sustained within an environment of supported independence. We have immense confidence in the capabilities of Aikya’s esteemed investment team,” added Mr Macoun.

Aikya’s flagship Global Emerging Markets strategy comprises a concentrated portfolio of 30- 35 companies, with a focus on buying high quality companies at sensible valuations. Aikya applies a holistic approach to judging quality, with quality of executive stewardship, quality of the franchise and quality of financials being the most important criteria. The Aikya portfolio is designed with a view to protect downside to capital, while generating healthy long term returns for investors.

“Aikya is being set up with a strong sense of purpose. We will be taking the analysis of stewardship to the next level – incorporating analysis of Environment, Social and Governance related issues with as much rigour as traditional financial metrics. Our investment approach enables us to ignore thousands of sub-standard companies that make up the Emerging Markets universe, and instead focus on building a highly concentrated portfolio of only the best,” said Aikya Portfolio Manager, Rahul Desai.

“We are not going to allocate capital to industries with negative social utility such as Coal, Gambling, Tobacco and Defence Equipment makers.

”Pursuing an active engagement agenda on every company held in the portfolio is a key part of our investment process, which not only helps us in enhancing the investment case on the company, but also enables us to forge closer relationships with company management teams,” added Mr. Desai.

The Aikya Global Emerging Markets Strategy is available to eligible investors as a separately managed account (SMA) and will be launching a UCITS ICAV pooled fund in the near future.

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Eu-Jene has 16 years of funds management experience, most recently as a Senior Manager at Macquarie Investment Management. Prior to that, he was a senior distribution executive at Vanguard, Orchard Funds Management and Macquarie Professional Series.

Andrew Chambers, Director of Distribution, said, “I am delighted that an executive of Eu-Jene’s talent, character and experience has joined our sales team. Eu-Jene joins at a time when market demand for our affiliates’ investment skills has never been higher. It’s critical that we attract talented professionals such as Eu-Jene so we can continue to deliver the service excellence that investors and our affiliates have come to expect from us”.

Eu-Jene said, “I am looking forward to this exciting opportunity to be a part of Pinnacle’s continued growth. I am also relishing working with such an outstanding and dynamic group of investment managers”.

Eu-Jene will assist Pinnacle’s affiliated fund managers, including Antipodes Partners (global and Asian equities), Hyperion Asset Management (Australian and global equities), Palisade Investment Partners (private infrastructure), Plato Investment Management (Australian and global equities), Resolution Capital Limited (global real estate securities), Solaris Investment Management (Australian equities) and Spheria Asset Management (micro cap and small cap Australian equities), to engage with the institutional marketplace.

Eu-Jene has an MBA from Melbourne Business School, a Diploma of Financial Planning from the FPA and a Bachelor of Commerce from Murdoch University.

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