Last month, the firm received SFC licences to engage in dealing in securities (Type 1) and advising on securities (Type 4) activities in Hong Kong, according to records from the regulator.
Nuveen will be offering real assets, real estate, alternatives, yield-oriented, ESG and multi-asset solutions in APAC, with an emphasis on institutional and professional investors, according to Simon England-Brammer, senior managing director and head of Asia-Pacific.
England-Brammer, who joined the firm in October last year, was previously Invesco’s head of institutional business for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Korea, according to a statement from the firm. He reports to John Panagakis, Nuveen’s head of international advisory services.
“Asian investors, like investors across the globe, are seeking portfolio diversification, uncorrelated returns and income,” Panagakis said in the statement.
Nuveen has hired three people to support England-Brammer in the Hong Kong office: Kelvin Cheung and Ying Li Tan, who were previously with Invesco, and Jae Ho Chang, who was previously from TH Real Estate, an affiliate firm of Nuveen, according to the statement.
The Hong Kong office follows the opening of a Sydney office in 2015. It is led by Andrew Kleinig, who will also report to England-Brammer, according to the statement.
Nuveen managed around $900bn in assets as of the end of June and has operations in 16 countries, according to the firm.
Crowded industry?
Asia’s mutual fund industry is highly competitive, yet foreign asset managers still view Asia as an attractive long-term market given its emerging middle and upper class and the need to support pension offerings, according to Graeme McKenzie, Sydney-based managing partner for financial services at EY.
“Margins still are attractive relative to some of the more mature markets and the population and wealth growth does look very enticing,” he told FSA.
The share of Asia-Pacific net revenues in the global mutual fund industry is expected to increase to 37% from 35.3% by 2021, according to Cerulli research. During the same period, net revenues from the US are expected to decrease to 42.6% from 48.4% in 2016.
The three-year performance of two of Nuveen’s funds, the Global Infrastructure Fund and the Global High Income Fund, versus their sectors.
All fund and sector NAVs have been converted to US dollars for comparison purposes.
