Anchor grows assets despite dumping Kellermann funds

ASSET manager Anchor Group has sidestepped declining segments of the market to deliver a double-digit increase in assets under management during a quarter hobbled by greater volatility.

The four-year-old firm, which offers both unit trust and hedge fund investments, saw assets under management rise 16% to R15.7bn during the three months to the end of September. Its advisory business grew 277% to R5.7bn.

Unit trust investments and offshore holdings boosted growth in assets under management. These now outstrip those of AltX counterpart Vunani Securities, which stood at R13.4bn in June. Vunani was founded 17 years ago.

The quarter to September included so-called Black Monday on August 24, when there was a major correction in global stock markets as investors dumped shares in response to fears over China’s growth.

That day, Chinese investors drove the benchmark Shanghai index down 8.49%, triggering a global market meltdown, which saw the JSE All Share index lose 2.85% of its value. The US’s S&P500 index shed the most value outside China, plunging 3.94%.

But Anchor CEO Peter Armitage said local markets were down only 2% during the quarter.

“We outperformed this by appropriate stock selection, and largely avoiding the segments of the market that experienced sharp declines,” said Mr Armitage.

Anchor achieved this growth in assets despite getting rid of three strong performing funds — worth about R300m — it managed on behalf of Clarus Capital, an investment firm linked to Cobus Kellermann, earlier this year.

Anchor decided to distance itself from Mr Kellermann, who was investigated by the Mauritian authorities for his involvement in Belvedere, an alleged international Ponzi scheme.

The Financial Services Board assisted in tracking transactions made by the scheme into SA.

Anchor also cancelled a R28m takeover of Contego Holdings, another asset manager in which Mr Kellermann served as a nonexecutive director.

Anchor’s asset inflows have more than doubled to R8.5bn in the year to date.

The assets under management comprise mainly equity investments. The company recently launched a fixed-income product suite and hired a team to manage the new products.

Anchor’s offshore offering is growing steadily, and comprises about 15% of its assets. All of the offshore assets are held on behalf of local investors.

“The advisory assets included some acquisitive activity,” said Mr Armitage.

In a recent advisory deal, Anchor underwrote education group Advtech’s shares in its cash and share swap tie-up with smaller rival Maravest, a R450m deal.

“The advisory clients are where people are given financial advice and a broad range of asset managers are used, not just Anchor Capital. Our net fees on this are much lower than where we manage the assets.”