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.”

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UK-based Threadneedle Investments actively manages over $A110 billion of assets globally. In Australia, it manages $A1 billion in Asset Backed Mortgage Securities and offers its suite of equity and fixed income funds to institutional investors.

Certitude will offer the Threadneedle Global Equity Fund, an Australian registered investment management scheme which invests in the actively managed Threadneedle Global Select Fund. It will provide  access to the fund to the local retail market including; research houses, platforms, dealer groups, financial advisers, family offices and multi-managers, previously only available in Australia to institutional investors.

The fund will also provide a quality solution for the Self-Managed Super Funds which are often over-reliant on local equities to achieve alpha in a portfolio.

Managed by Jeremy Podger, Head of Global Equities at Threadneedle Investments, since 2003, the Threadneedle Global Select Fund has consistently outperformed its benchmark (MSCI AC World) over the past 3, 5 and 7 years, with a cumulative return of 35.3 per cent over the past 5 years and 21.0 per cent over 1 year, as at May 31, 2011.

The timing of the fund launch complements the shift of Australian investors who are demanding greater international exposure in the portfolios.

“We are approaching what we see as a tipping point in global equities and believe Australian retail investors allocation to global equities will rise dramatically in coming years as investors look for diversification and greater opportunity in developed, emerging and frontier markets,” Threadneedle Investments Head of Australian Distribution, David Chinnery said.

“The high Australian dollar also provides an opportune time for Australian investors to diversify portfolios beyond the local market. We are delighted to be selected by, and working with, Certitude. We understand how to support retail investors, being the fourth largest retail fund provider in the UK and are keen to leverage our expertise in Australia.”

Certitude aims to identify the best active investment managers in the world and make them available to Australian investors.

“We were looking for a long only active global equity flagship fund to market and we found that with the Threadneedle Global Equity Fund,” Certitude CEO Craig Mowll said.

“We initially identified over 4000 potential funds offered by global fund managers and interviewed nearly100 of the best available managers around the world.  From there we developed a shortlist of nine, from which Threadneedle Investments was identified as the best solution – in terms of price, return and scope – for the retail and High Net Worth market in Australia.”

The Threadneedle Global Equities Fund is scheduled to be available to retail investors by the end of July.

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