11 Jun 2012
Eastspring Investments expands institutional business with US office opening
Eastspring Investments, the asset management arm of Prudential
Corporation Asia, part of Prudential plc of the UK, and the
region’s largest multinational onshore mutual fund manager,
today announced the opening of its US office. The move aims to
capture the increasing interest among global investors in the Asia
growth story.
The Americas business is the first for Eastspring Investments to
be established outside Asia where it was founded and is based. This
initiative has been made possible by the rebranding earlier this
year to Eastspring Investments, a name which captures the asset
manager’s Asia investment expertise and eliminates a
trademark impediment created by the previous name.
Prudential Corporation Asia Chief Executive Barry Stowe said the
opening of the US office marked a major milestone in the expansion
of Prudential Corporation Asia’s asset management
business.
"This allows Eastspring Investments to take its sought after
Asia investment expertise closer to the world’s largest
institutional market, and brings with it significant growth
opportunities," Mr Stowe said.
It is the second new office for the asset manager in as many
months, following the opening of the Indonesia business in May.
Eastspring Investments’ Americas business will be
headquartered in Chicago and will focus on building business with
pension funds, investment consultants and large family offices. It
will also have an office in Denver to facilitate business with
Jackson National, also a member of the Prudential plc group of
companies, and an existing client.
"Our Americas business will seek to tap into the growing
interest in the long-term Asia growth story," said Eastspring
Investments Chief Executive Graham Mason.
Speaking from Hong Kong, Mr Mason said this was never more
apparent than now with uncertainty in Europe. "Large institutions
with long-term mandates are now looking to diversify portions of
their global asset allocations into markets in Asia which offer
significant growth potential."
Mr Mason announced the appointment of Jeffrey Smith to lead
Eastspring Investments’ efforts in the Americas and he will
report to Dean Winterton, who joined Eastspring Investments last
year to grow the institutional business.
Jeff joins Eastspring Investments as Head of the Americas, based
in Chicago. He will focus on building the institutional business in
the US and developing the firm's expansion beyond the US into the
Americas.
Jeff has more than 30 years of financial services experience and
was previously head of distribution at Performance Trust Investment
Advisors, a specialty investment manager in distressed markets
based in Chicago. He was previously head of US distribution at
Pyramis Global Advisors (a unit of Fidelity Investments) and led a
team establishing and managing relationships with major US
institutional investors. Prior to that, Jeff had a leadership role
in the Americas business of UBS Global Asset Management as co-head
of institutional, based in Chicago.
As part of the Americas sales effort, Mr. Mason also announced
the appointment of Pamela Aurbach. Pam is Senior Vice President
Institutional sales based in Denver and joins from Prudential plc
sister company Jackson National Life Distributors where she was
responsible for assessing the viability of new product offerings,
geographies and distribution channels. During her career with
Jackson National, Pam was seconded to Prudential UK where she was
head of business development services in the intermediary sales
division. Before joining Jackson National, Pam worked at GE Life
and Annuity and then Transamerica, where she was responsible for
annuity product development and distribution. She brings 20 years
of experience in financial services to the role.
"The appointment of people of the calibre of Jeff and Pam
underpin our conviction in the significant potential of the US, and
indeed the Americas," said Mr Winterton.
"They will be establishing relationships on our behalf with
institutional clients, pension funds and consultants who are
seeking to increase their exposure to Asia," he said.
"In particular, Pam will be working closely with our partners at
Jackson National for whom we already manage a sizeable pool of
assets, to focus on maximising the opportunity to tap the large
variable annuity product base which is meeting the needs of the
US’s ageing population."
About Eastspring Investments:
Eastspring Investments, part of Prudential Corporation Asia, is
Prudential's asset management business in Asia. We are one of
Asia’s largest and most successful asset managers, with
operations in eleven markets, approximately 2000 employees in Asia
and about US$85 billion (£53.4 billion) in assets under
management (at 31 March 2012).
We manage funds on behalf of a wide range of retail and
institutional investors, including life and pension products sold
by Prudential in the UK and across Asia.
We have investment teams in nine markets, including our regional
hub in Singapore. We have a large group of Asia-based investment
managers who manage funds across a broad range of asset classes
including one of the largest pools of Fixed Income assets in Asia,
Asia equities (including global emerging market equities) and
alternative assets including private equity, property and
infrastructure. Our team also includes a specialist Global Asset
Allocation team which manages portfolios worldwide from the
perspective of the world’s fastest growing region.
About half of our total assets are sourced from third party
clients. We are the largest multinational onshore mutual fund
manager in the region1.
Recent awards include China Equity A, Greater China Equity A,
Indonesia Equity A and Asian Property Securities A funds for
outstanding performance over three years at the Edge/Lipper
Singapore Fund Awards 2012. In Taiwan, our China Equity Fund A won
the 2012 Lipper Funds Awards for outstanding performance over three
years.
Eastspring Investments operates in Japan, Malaysia, Singapore,
South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia
and Vietnam, and has joint venture operations in India, China and
Hong Kong.
In addition to Eastspring Investments, Prudential Corporation
Asia (PCA) comprises the life insurance and consumer finance
operations of Prudential plc2 in Asia. PCA businesses
span 12 markets, covering China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia,
Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan,
Thailand, and Vietnam. Prudential plc is the leading Europe-based
life insurer in terms of market coverage and number of top three
positions with more than 360,000 employees and agents across the
region serving over 12 million customers.
www.eastspringinvestments.com
1Source: Korea (KOFIA), India (AMFI),
Singapore/Malaysia (Lipper), Japan (ITA), Taiwan (SITCA), China
(Wind). Competitors selected based on the largest multi-national
players in the following 7 Asian markets: Korea, India, Singapore,
Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, China. 100% FUM accounted for all players,
regardless of ownership stake.
2Prudential plc, incorporated and with
its principal place of business in England, and its affiliated
companies constitute one of the world's leading financial services
groups and has been in existence for over 160 years. It provides
insurance and financial services directly and through its
subsidiaries and affiliates throughout the world. Prudential plc is
not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial, Inc, a
company whose principal place of business is in the United States
of America.
Media Enquiries:
Jacinta Reddan, Eastspring Investments, +852 2918 6379/9265
3020
jacinta.reddan@eastspringinvestments.com
The Consultancy
Emma Smith, +852 3114 6336/9308 0099
esmith@consultancy-pr.com.hk
Judith Bence, +61 415 903 849
jbence@consultancy-pr.com.hk