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The joint venture saw the launch of the IFDS Omnis multi-manager, multi-asset fund range, designed for Openwork’s network of 2500 advisers and their clients.
Lothar Mentel, chief investment officer and director of multi-manager funds at Octopus, welcomed the show of support for the fund range in the current market conditions.
Mentel said he was "absolutely chuffed" with the range’s performance since its launch and was pleased the investment strategy had already started to show results.
He said: "The outperformance we’ve produced since launch in the most difficult situations has really made us, but this doesn’t come without hard work."
According to Octopus, the range offered retail clients exposure to areas normally restricted to the institutional sphere.
Mentel said the management strategy had involved taking a high exposure to markets through ETFs, avoiding the cost of overpriced beta funds and freeing up cash to invest in more attractive, and expensive, actively managed funds.
It said management costs have also been capped by Omnis below the average fees charged by its competitors.
Mentel revealed plans to extend the range of products and was in talks with potential financial adviser groups as partners.
He said: "We’re planning an extension – we’ve got a pretty neat model that would need a distribution capability. Great products without a distribution are just great products."
Mentel said he hoped the size of the fund range would grow during its next six months, following the success of its launch.
"In six months, I’d like to be somewhere closer to £500m, but it depends on market sentiment," he said.
"Given that we’ve raised this amount of money in extremely bad conditions, I’m confident we can raise a lot more now we’re established."
Keith Carby, chief executive of Openwork, said he was pleased with the progress made by the fund range since launch.
He said: "We look forward to expanding the proposition and continuing to provide our advisers with a range of products specifically designed to meet their clients’ investment needs."
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