Janus Henderson’s Rob Adams outlines the merged fund manager’s Asia strategy

A merger of two large active fund managers is always likely to cause some insecurity as well as manoeuvring among professional staff. So, the mega-deal combining Henderson and Janus, with assets of $320bn, will need diplomacy and a sure touch. 

The enlarged asset manager might keep its investment teams as two franchises, and will focus on strong organic growth in Asia Pacific, according to Rob Adams, newly-appointed Asia Pacific head of Janus Henderson Global Investors.

 “Because of the different investment styles, there might well be circumstances in which we have two strong franchises in the same area. And we are comfortable maintaining two franchises,” he said.

There are different investment processes, so “we can have more than one team in any given sector.”

Janus distributes 20 and 18 funds in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively, and most of them focus on global or US markets, according to FE Analytics.

Henderson makes 16 funds available for investors in Hong Kong and 32 for Singapore, with mandates covering global markets, Europe and Asia.

Adams insists that “the businesses are quite complementary, in terms of investment capabilities and client base, not just globally but specifically in Asia. We see little crossover,” stressing that the firm is not expected to make substantial redundancies.

Janus’s largest office outside the US is in Hong Kong, and it is also located in Singapore, Taiwan and Tokyo.

Henderson employs about 150 staff in Asia. Its main regional office is in Singapore with around 50 personnel and it has sales offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo.

The merged money manager will combine offices within the same city, said Adams, but apparently no decision has been made about whether Hong Kong or Singapore will the regional hub.

“We are contemplating what the organizational structure will look like in the region,” he said.

In Australia, where the group manages $24bn of assets, “there is no cross-over between our businesses,” he noted.

The firm plans to focus most on the pension businesses in Australia and Japan, and on wealth management for high net worth individuals in Singapore.

Moreover, “Greater China is evolving very rapidly, and Janus has important relationships, such as with China’s sovereign fund and we look forward to build on these,” said Adams.

Henderson also has onshore distribution agreements with UBS and Julius Baer, he added.

“At a high level, we have greater expectations on [expansion] within the Asia Pacific region than the rest of the world. One of the prime reasons is significantly higher GDP growth. We want to get a disproportionate share of that.”

Asset under management by geography as of 30 June 2016:

Source: Janus Henderson Global Investors