Performance focus for First State, as Withers builds ‘alpha firm'

CHIEF EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

Gary Withers, First State Investments' recently appointed CEO, is in his element, energetically building what he sees as a "pure alpha firm" in an industry getting bogged down in tangential and peripheral issues

First State Investments represents the UK and Asian operation of Australia’s Colonial First State Global Asset Management, which is the asset management business of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). First State, previously Colonial First State, is built on the acquisition in 2000 of Stewart Ivory, which tried bravely to grow a diverse fund management business, having acquired it at the peak of the market. By the end of 2003, First State shook out what were considered loss-making non-core activities, and the business set a new course. “It is like a phoenix risen from the ashes,...