FirstRand asset manager unit ready for takeoff

Ashburton Investments, the asset management arm of FirstRand, has set its sights on growing its equity, multi-asset and fixed income capabilities, making senior appointments as it readies itself to compete with big players in the sector.

Ashburton has R140bn assets under management, making it one of the smaller players.

Rivals Stanlib, owned by Standard Bank, and Coronation each have more than R600bn assets in their custody. Nedbank and old Mutual too have sizeable asset management businesses.

Ashburton on Wednesday said it plans to grow “exponentially” in the next three years. It said it will do so by scaling its equity, multi-asset, fixed income and global capabilities.

CEO Duzi Ndlovu, who took the helm in 2022, said part of the growth blueprint is widening its distribution footprint and finetuning its global acumen.

To achieve this, the company has roped in former Stanlib manager Vanessa Pillay to lead the corporate and commercial distribution division. Pillay, who has 25 years’ experience in the industry, was MD of First Global Asset Management.

She joins recent appointments including Vuyo Mvulane, who took over the position of head of institutional distribution eight months ago. Mvulane has served as head of business development and client service at Mazi Asset Management.

The company’s chief investment officer Patrice Rassou joined in 2020. Another new face is Kashif Noor, who has been in the role of head of retail distribution for a year.

Ashburton poached Noor from Nedbank where he was head of wealth management for the Cape and coastal regions. Before that he worked for Absa Wealth and Coronation.

“The first step in achieving our growth goal was to cement the investment team under Patrice’s leadership. This included the key appointment of Charl de Villiers as head of equities in 2021. Charl has a stellar portfolio management track record, and his addition has added significant industry experience to the team,” Ndlovu said.

“The recent distribution focus is the second step in the growth phase ahead. We have made several important appointments

to bolster the strength of our distribution teams across the institutional, corporate and commercial, retail and intermediated investment areas. A large part of our success thus far can be attributed to the fixed income investment team and track record developed.”

Ashburton was acquired by SA’s most valuable banking group, FirstRand, in 2013, filling the gap left by the unbundling of Momentum in 2009. The company has also tapped former Ninety One, Discovery and Sasfin staffer Steven Amey as head of intermediated distribution.

Ndlovu said the firm is poised to meet its growth objectives.

“We’re unique to the rest of the market in that our investment style is pragmatic, spanning across active and passive, local and offshore, traditional and alternative. We are valuation-driven and risk-aware, and our teams focus on meeting unique client needs with tailored solutions. That’s why we need quite wide demographic and cognitive diversity in our teams — to tackle investment performance from all angles,” he said.

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“For a business that’s been around for a decade in SA, I’m grateful to the Ashburton employees, both past and current, who’ve built the business to what it is today. We have great ambitions to now take it to the next level and these key appointments reaffirm this.”

Scale is important in the asset management industry, which is facing several headwinds, which Stanlib boss Derrick Msibi expects to last for the next two years,

Corporate and investment bank Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) expects the SA management industry to shrink further in the next five years with companies with assets under management of less than R10bn at risk of becoming economically unviable in a tough trading environment.

In December 2022, Moody’s lowered its outlook for the global asset management industry from stable to negative. It cited factors such as an operating environment that has grown more volatile since central banks began raising interest rates and since Russia invaded Ukraine.