New wholesale investment service introduced by Kiwi Wealth

New Zealand-owned and operated investment manager Kiwi Wealth has launched a new investment service for wholesale investors which includes a suite of locally-managed wholesale funds.

The four portfolio investment entity (PIE) funds are available to wholesale investors and are managed by Kiwi Investment Management Limited (Kiwi Invest). A ‘wholesale investor’ is defined in legislation and generally includes entities investing substantial sums, such as charities, iwi, trusts and a range of other investment funds.

The investment approach used for these new funds differs from many fund managers operating in New Zealand in that it employs a global approach to investing but the investment team is based in New Zealand – including portfolio managers of global assets.

“Our starting point is the world, and in this day and age technology makes it possible to manage global assets from New Zealand. Our track record shows that our highly qualified and experienced investment team can foot it with the best of them,” said chief investment officer Simon O’Grady.

Kiwi Wealth and Kiwi Invest are both indirect subsidiaries of Kiwi Group Holdings Limited, which also owns Kiwibank.

Kiwi Invest’s new wholesale offering currently comprises four funds:

• Growth Fund: an actively managed diversified portfolio of primarily global shares and other growth assets
• Fixed Interest Fund: an actively managed diversified portfolio of New Zealand and global fixed interest investments
• Core Global Fund: a diversified portfolio of global share investments with enhanced index management, with a choice of hedged and unhedged share classes
• Cash Fund: a portfolio of cash investments

Peter Verhaart, Kiwi Invest Head of Wholesale and Private Investment, said the wholesale funds would provide New Zealand wholesale investors with access to investment strategies with long and successful track records that deliver a real difference.

“We believe the New Zealand wholesale market needs a fund manager that is entirely focused on New Zealand investors, where the profits are retained in a New Zealand-owned corporate group for the ultimate betterment of New Zealanders – not individual shareholders or foreign owners.”

With more than $5 billion funds under management, Kiwi Wealth is an established player in the New Zealand market. Kiwi Invest is taking advantage of this scale to offer investment services to wholesale investors.

“Our industry-leading responsible investment approach, incorporating Environmental Social and Governance factors in our decision-making across all of our funds, is something that is sought after by our private clients and members of the Kiwi Wealth KiwiSaver Scheme,” said O’Grady.

“We’re now offering that same benefit to the New Zealand wholesale market.”

Verhaart, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the New Zealand wholesale funds management market assets: “Our wholesale funds hold the assets themselves making them tax effective, provide our clients with transparency down to the stock level, and we incorporate our responsible investment policy across all our investments.

“We’re proud to be a Kiwi company and are thrilled to be able to offer Kiwi made and managed wholesale products and services to New Zealand wholesale investors.”

Notes

Kiwi Investment Management Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kiwi Wealth Investments Limited Partnership (KWILP). KWILP is owned by Kiwi Wealth Management Limited. Kiwi Wealth Management Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kiwi Group Holdings Limited (which in turn is owned by New Zealand Post Limited, Guardians of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and the Accident Compensation Corporation). Kiwi Group Holdings Limited also owns Kiwibank Limited.

Further information can be found at www.kiwiinvest.co.nz.

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