Industry Updates

Two UK fund managers are to set up operations in Asia

Monday, October 24, 2011

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Opalesque Industry Update – Two UK-based fund management firms are joining the fray and setting up operations in Asia to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the region, it was reported. According to reports from AsianInvestor.net, M&G Investments and Legal & General Investment Management are in different stages of putting up business in Asia.

According to the report, M&G Investments, the oldest and largest active investors in the UK which was founded in 1931 with an estimated $315bn in assets under management, is planning to set its foothold in Asia via Singapore. The firm is currently in the process of completing the recruitment of staff, leasing office space and transferring executives to the region.

For its part, L&G IM, the $510.2bn London-based institutional asset manager, is said to be in the early stage of its plan to put up a base in Asia. It is currently studying what strategy is appropriate for the region and is looking at Hong Kong and Singapore for its office. L&G IM is still mulling the kind of staff to comprise its future Asian office and the timescale moving forward.

Asian investors revealed that executives of both asset managers have already spent some time in Hong Kong and Singapore to conduct studies, particularly regulatory regimes and the various processes of conducting business in the region.

The past weeks, there had been tell-tale signs that the two asset managers are expanding outside of the UK. Two weeks ago, L&G IM , predicted that the UK’s top triple-A credit ratings would be downgraded over the coming years as the government struggles to meet its growth forecasts.

M&G said that investors are not likely to believe using the euro region’s bailout plan to insure Europe’s bond-insurance plan. It said investors do not think the plan cannot be trusted.

M&G London-based analyst Tamara Burnel was quoted as saying, “The idea that a sovereign-insurance policy provided by the very same, or, at best, related group of stressed sovereigns would provide reassurance to the market seems a ludicrous one.”
Precy Dumlao

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