Multi-asset ‘essential’ after RDR: Invesco

Invesco Perpetual’s head of distribution Ian Trevers has said a multi-asset capability will be essential for success post-RDR after Invesco revealed it had hired a trio of multi-asset managers last week.

The group has poached Richard Batty, David Millar and David Jubb, who currently work on Standard Life Investments’ £12bn Global Absolute Return Strategies (Gars) fund, to build out its

multi-asset capability.

Mr Trevers said he was “convinced” that multi-asset funds were not a passing product fad.

“Being successful in the multi-asset space will be a requirement for businesses like us to be successful in the next decade,” he said. “We wanted to get this done properly and not quickly.”

Mr Trevers said the new multi-asset team would sit on the company’s main investment floor and use investment ideas generated from the fixed income and equity parts of the business as well as generating its own.

He also said there was potential for the team to be expanded beyond the new appointments, who he said “would put together a platform that we can build on”.

“The funds will be an expression of Invesco Perpetual in multi-asset form,” Mr Trevers said.

He added the group’s new hires start next year and that it would not look to launch funds before next summer. Overall, he said the offering would be “distinctive”.

Invesco already has an existing multi-asset team based in Atlanta in the US, which recently launched risk-rated funds. This team will remain separate from the new hires.

The group launched its Balanced range of funds in February this year, a multi-asset offering which uses derivatives to invest in equities, bonds and commodities.

In reaction to the loss of team members from the Standard Life Investments Gars team, Morningstar OBSR put the fund’s bronze rating on hold, although major brokers including Chelsea Financial Services and Bestinvest have maintained their recommendations for the product.