Hallinan most recently was General Manager of Investment Management at NAB Asset Management and Managing Director of Antares Capital Partners Limited, which is affiliated with NAB Asset Management.

“We are very happy that Sam will be joining us. Our commitment to developing a world-class fund management culture and to providing the best products and services to our clients in Australia has never been stronger,” said Takumi Shibata, President and CEO of Nikko Asset Management. “We are excited by the ability of our local, regional and global products to increase value for our clients in Australia, and are spreading the Australian investment story to the rest of the world. We expect Sam’s contribution to be significant, building on the foundation that was put in place under Mike Davis.”

Nikko Asset Management has transformed its Australian business, which was formerly known as Tyndall Asset Management, from a domestic company specialising in managing local equity and fixed income funds to a global player offering access to asset management capabilities extending around the world.

“Joining Nikko Asset Management at this stage of the firm’s development both in Australia and globally is an exciting challenge for me,” said Mr Hallinan. “The company has excellent core capabilities on a global basis in the asset classes investors demand, giving us a very solid platform for growth in the months and years ahead.”

Mr Hallinan has a 20-year career in Australian financial services focusing on asset management, strategy, sales and organisational culture. At NAB, he has held leadership roles in retail and institutional product and a number of sales leadership roles for the asset management and investment platform divisions. He will begin client outreach on April 8th, 2015, following the Easter break.

Mr Hallinan is succeeding Mike Davis as Managing Director for Australia. Earlier this year Davis decided it was the right time to take the next step in his career, after leading Nikko Asset Management’s entry into the Australian market since 2012.

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Tyndall Investment Management (Tyndall AM), a Nikko AM company, has formalised its team management and strategic functions to provide further depth and breadth to its fixed income capabilities.

The move follows the success of new hire, Mr James Alexander, who was appointed in June 2013 to manage the fixed income team. His appointment has enabled Mr Roger Bridges, to continue to focus his strength and expertise in macro economic and strategic investment research for Tyndall’s Australian Fixed Income funds and insurance asset management solutions.

Mr Alexander will become head of fixed income and Mr Bridges will become head of fixed income strategy.

Managing Director, Mike Davis, says since the appointment of Mr Alexander the roles of the two fixed income team leaders have evolved as expected, and the new titles are a formalisation of the existing team management and strategic functions.

“The investment team has been reporting to James since his appointment when he was given the responsibility for the team, process, products and performance,” Mr Davis says.

“There will be no fundamental change in the Tyndall AM fixed income investment process, philosophy or strategy, and the fixed income team will continue to focus daily on managing downside risk and maintaining low volatility for clients.

“Roger has been with Tyndall for 15 years, and has a wealth of experience in fixed income strategy with a strong focus on insurance investment strategies. He has become increasingly focused on strategic investment at a macro level, and working with our global investment team to bring greater recognition of our broader investment views and capabilities to prospective and current clients.

“This team structure allows Roger to further enhance his macro focus, while the day to day running of the fixed income team and its product diversification strategies will continue under James’ leadership.”

Global CIO, Mr Yu-Ming Wang, said the move is in line with the recent announcement of a management structure that is being introduced globally, that allows local market needs to be met with products based on the highest global standards.

“The formalisation of function titles recognises the success of Mr Alexander’s appointment, and acknowledges Mr Bridges’ expertise and experience in macro assessment, and contribution as part of the Nikko AM’s Global Investment Committee,” Mr Wang says.

Both Mr Alexander and Mr Bridges will report to Mr Wang for investments and Mr Davis for local management issues.

The fixed income team is continually working to improve and refine its investment process and offerings to both the insurance markets as well as local and regional institutional and retail investors, Mr Davis says.

“The Tyndall fixed income team put in a very strong performance in 2013 and these changes will help ensure the strong long term performance record of the team continues. We strongly believe that the focus on fixed income and associated product will grow with both demographic trends and outcomes based investing preferences,” he concludes.

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Tyndall and Ignis form strategic alliance.

Tyndall Investment Management Limited (Tyndall AM) and UK-based Ignis Asset Management (Ignis) have announced a strategic alliance in Australia.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ignis will sub-advise new absolute return debt product and liability management strategies exclusively with Tyndall AM into the institutional market in Australia.

Ignis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Phoenix Group and has approximately A$110.8 billion1 of total assets under management. Ignis has a long and successful history of managing life insurance and pension fund assets on behalf of its parent company, Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest closed life and pension fund consolidator. Ignis also has significant third party operations in the UK and Europe. Building a truly global business is a key objective for Ignis.

Tyndall AM is part of Nikko AM, a leading independent fund manager in Asia headquartered in Japan, and the arrangement with Ignis follows the announcement last that Nikko AM has acquired Treasury Asia Asset Management (TAAM) from Treasury Group, with Tyndall AM to handle distribution of its Asian equity strategies in Australia.

The addition of Ignis’ investment strategies to Tyndall AM’s current capabilities, including Australian equities, Australian and international fixed income and credit, alternative assets and multi-manager funds, as well as the recent Nikko AM acquisition of TAAM, means that Tyndall AM will now offer a broader range of both domestic and international offerings to Australian investors.

Initially, Tyndall AM will offer Ignis’ Absolute Return Government Bond strategy and Liability Driven Investment (LDI) solutions to institutional investors. Tyndall AM may also consider other Ignis investment strategies, such as emerging market debt, as part of its multi-manager and World Series Fundä platform offerings in future.

The agreement with Tyndall AM is Ignis’ first such venture outside of the UK and Europe and represents a significant step in the continued development of its operations globally.

Allan MacLeod, Head of Global Accounts at Ignis, commented: “At US$1.6 trillion2, the Australian pension market is the fourth largest in the world due to the compulsory superannuation savings requirement and is an attractive market for Ignis where our expertise and strong heritage in managing life insurance and pension fund accounts is especially well suited.

“The numerous initial meetings we have had with prospective investors in Australia have helped to reaffirm the region as a key strategic objective for us. We felt that working with a strong local partner was the most attractive way of accessing it.

“We look forward to working with Tyndall AM, one of the most respected investment managers in Australia. Its deep understanding of the requirements of local institutions, including insurance companies, and considered approach to client service makes it a natural partner for us,” Mr MacLeod said.

Mike Davis, Managing Director of Tyndall AM, said: “A strategic alliance with Ignis Asset Management is a good fit for Tyndall AM. Ignis is a forward thinking and progressive business with a strong product range and a rich insurance asset management heritage in the UK and Europe.

“This strategic alliance with Ignis further complements our objective to add local and international product solutions to meet the demand we are seeing from our client base.

“Initially, Ignis has chosen to focus its offering in the Australian market around its core strengths in fixed income absolute return and LDI, disciplines in which Ignis takes an innovative approach and has a strong track record.

“Consequently, in addition to our own strong offerings in a range of asset classes, we can now add international investment strategies that we believe will be attractive to local institutions,” Mr Davis said.

The Ignis strategies to be distributed in Australia are:

Ignis Absolute Return Government Bond Strategy

The Ignis Absolute Return Government Bond Strategy seeks to achieve its returns by translating macroeconomic views into carefully diversified long and short positions predominantly in the most liquid government bonds and currencies. Underlying investments are split into seven diversified sources of alpha that are carefully blended to provide a low correlation with other assets in order to deliver positive returns regardless of market conditions.

Since its launch in Europe and the UK on 31 March 2011, the A$2.6 billion3 fund has delivered a total return of 18.5 percent4 and an annualised return of 7 percent4 net of fees. Most importantly, the fund has achieved these returns with a very low level of risk. The fund has achieved its return with a standard deviation of 3.3 percent4 and an information ratio of 1.964. The fund’s consistent track record of meeting or exceeding its performance objectives has made it one of the most popular absolute return funds with UK and European institutions.

Liability Driven Investment

Ignis is the UK’s third5 largest manager of “with profits” funds and is the UK’s fifth5 largest manager of annuity assets and has extensive experience of managing assets alongside liabilities. Ignis manages approximately A$45.5 billion6 of assets against liability benchmarks.

Ignis’ scale as a major fixed income manager (approximately A$82.8 billion1 of total fixed income assets under management) and its history of managing assets against life and pensions liabilities ensures it has developed systems to give it the precision, control and flexibility to manage assets effectively against a range of benchmarks. Ignis’ pragmatic and tailored approach aims to provide closer matching, greater efficiency and cost transparency for insurance companies and pension schemes.

Ignis Absolute Return Emerging Market Debt Strategy

Ignis manages approximately A$725 million3 of emerging market debt (EMD) assets and has developed an EMD absolute return strategy designed to maximise risk-adjusted returns by investing in emerging market fixed interest securities, foreign exchange and financial derivative instruments. The strategy has been successfully run for an institutional client in the UK since January 2012 and a Luxembourg-based UCITS IV fund, based on the strategy, is being prepared for launch in November 2013 – subject to regulatory approval.

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Her appointment is part of the recent strengthening of Tyndall AM’s in-house legal and compliance capabilities, and follows the appointment of James Wincott as head of risk & compliance in September.

Mr Davis said that Ms Do’s legal experience within the financial industry, particularly at ASIC, was very attractive to Tyndall AM.

“As the legal and compliance requirements for all participants in the financial services industry become increasingly stringent, we have been making a big investment to further build on the expertise and skills of our in-house team, to ensure we remain on top of, if not ahead of, those requirements.

“Kristy is a highly qualified and experienced legal professional who brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our existing high quality team,” Mr Davis said.

Ms Do has 14 years’ legal experience, with 10 years within the financial services industry. She was most recently with Mirvac Group where she was company secretary.

Prior to this, she was with ANZ Wealth as senior lawyer, and has also worked at ASIC as manager – large entities, financial services compliance division, which involved managing the relationships with large institutions licensed by ASIC, and as a senior lawyer within the Enforcement Directorate of ASIC.

Ms Do has also worked as a solicitor for Collins Biggers & Paisley and Goldsmiths Lawyers. She holds a bachelor of laws and bachelor of science from University of Sydney and is a member of the Law Society of New South Wales.

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Mr Wincott was most recently with Russell Investments as regional director risk management Asia Pacific. In this role, he was responsible for managing Russell’s operational, credit and investment risks for the Asia Pacific region, reporting directly to the chief risk officer.

He has also worked at NAB Broker as head of risk and compliance, and as head of operational risk & compliance with MLC Super and Investment Management.

Prior to this, Mr Wincott was based in London for a number of years, with roles including product control – fixed income and FX at Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley, and head of operational risk at ING Barings Asset Management. He holds a bachelor of accounting and finance (honours) from Kingston University in London.

Mr Davis said that Mr Wincott’s appointment will ensure Tyndall continues to meet the ongoing regulatory and legislative changes in the financial services industry.

“We take our risk management, compliance and regulatory responsibilities very seriously and James’s appointment ensures we continue to have in place the resources and expertise to fully satisfy those requirements,” Mr Davis said.

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Mike Davis

Following the launch of its Tyndall Australian Share Concentrated Fund to the retail market, Tyndall AM has introduced a new institutional version of the fund that may be suitable for investors on zero or low tax rates, such as charities, endowment funds and superannuation funds.

The new Tyndall Australian Share Concentrated Income Fund – LT uses the same strategy as the successful Tyndall Australian Share Concentrated Fund, however the new fund is likely to participate in off-market share buy-backs.

Historically, off-market share buy-backs have been very tax effective for investors on low tax rates. However, they have not been tax effective for investors on high-tax rates.

Mike Davis, managing director at Tyndall AM, said that the business had identified a growing need for a concentrated share strategy that participated in off-market share buy-backs that may be suitable for zero and low-tax rate investors.

“We have already seen interest from superannuation funds as well as not-for-profit organisations and charities in the new fund.

“This approach gives them access to a high conviction fund with a total return focus and an income bias that is constructed on a benchmark unaware basis. The strategy underpinning the fund has an excellent 15-year track record in delivering long-term returns. This has primarily been achieved by investing in companies that have more stable earnings streams.

“Because the fund is likely to participate in potentially attractive off-market share buy-backs it may appeal to investors who are on zero or low tax rates,” Mr Davis said.

The strategy takes advantage of the best ideas identified through Tyndall AM’s proprietary research, Comparative Value Analysis (CVA), which involves extensive fundamental analysis of all Australian companies.

The fund’s composition of stocks can vary substantially from the index which, together with the concentrated nature of the portfolio, means that over short time periods the fund can deliver significantly different return outcomes to the index. History suggests this can result in superior returns over a complete business cycle.

The fund is managed by Tyndall AM portfolio managers Jason Kim and Tim Johnston. Mr Kim has been managing the strategy underpinning the fund for 12 years and Mr Johnston has been co-managing the strategy for six years.

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