Ninety One, which was previously Investec Asset Management, announced yesterday the completion of its demerger from Investec Group and the official launch of the Ninety One brand, according to a statement from the firm.
As part of the demerger, Ninety One’s shares have been listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the statement noted.
“Today we start an exciting new phase as an independently-listed company. In spite of the current market volatility, we are excited about the future,” Hendrik du Toit, founder and chief executive officer, said in the statement.
Ninety One’s market debut as an independent firm follows the October LSE listing of another asset manager, M&G, which de-merged from its parent company Prudential.
Investec AM originally announced its new name – Ninety One in November last year.
Furthermore, in the same month, the firm hired John Cappetta to bulk out its Asia private banking distribution. Cappetta was formerly at Bank Julius Baer in Singapore where he was the head of funds advisory for Asia, FSA previously reported.
After the official rebranding, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman told FSA that “the branding of the fund names will change throughout the second quarter of 2020, subject to fund shareholders’ approval”.
In January this year, the firm received the approval from the SFC for its Emerging Markets Investment Grade Corporate Debt Fund.
The Luxembourg-domiciled fund was originally launched in November last year and has assets of $157.3m as of yesterday, according to FE Fundinfo. It is down 3.25% since December 2019.
Ninety One was established as Investec AM in South Africa in 1991. As of September 2019, it had assets of £120.8bn ($142.4bn), according to the statement.
The firm manages 33 Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)-authorised funds in Hong Kong and in Singapore, 35 for accredited investors and 18 for retail investors, according to FE Fundinfo.
