As the firm switches its focus from private clients to professional investors, Pryke (pictured) said Newton will be focusing on absolute return products, income funds, and actively managed solutions as it seeks to grow the business.
“The investment areas we are thinking about include the equity income space and managed income strategies,” Pryke said. “There are a couple of areas we could add new products to in this range.”
Pryke would also look to expand the group’s capabilities in the multi-asset space, which he finds “appealing because it allows for dynamic investment”.
“We are not currently in the fund of funds space, but we do have a managed income vehicle, institutional accounts and a relationship with Scottish Widows,” he said. “We are thinking about whether there is something else in that space that would appeal to a wider client base.”
Newton has been rationalising its fund range since December 2012, and most recently closed its underperforming European Higher Income fund as assets shrunk to £34m.
“Fund rationalisation is essentially over now, but we are still reviewing our range and looking at which smaller strategies can be expected to grow over time,” Pryke said.
The group has also taken steps to allow managers to be more ‘active and flexible’ in their investment approach, such as widening the remit of the Newton Higher Income fund to invest overseas.
The firm is closely watching capacity on its funds, especially its popular Asian Income vehicle run by Jason Pidcock, which has seen strong inflows and is now around £4.4bn in size.
Pryke said: “The Asian market is growing and there has been a lot of IPO activity this year, so we are not worried about capacity at this stage, but we will keep looking at it on a regular basis.”
The group is also strengthening its capabilities in the emerging market space, but Pryke said the group is not planning a raft of launches, as the team-oriented approach means Newton is “not infinitely scalable” as a firm.
Newton fund consolidation2012 |
