Ausbil Investment Management has added to its wholesale distribution team with the appointment of a business development manager.
Lester joins the firm as a business development manager for New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory on Ausbil’s wholesale distribution team, which is now eight professionals strong.
Bringing more than a decade of experience to the role, he was most recently at Allan Gray Australia where he spent around six years in retail distribution, prior to which he was an equities research manager at Gerson Lehrman Group for two years.
Lester holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFS) designation and a bachelor of business management, international business. He is also an officer cadet in the Australia Army.
Based in the Ausbil’s Sydney office, Lester will take responsibility for servicing wholesale clients across NSW and the ACT, reporting to Fawaz Rashid, head of wholesale sales, ex-North America.
Rashid said: “Rob is a valuable addition to our distribution team. His experience across retail distribution and investment management, coupled with a thorough understanding of the needs of wholesale clients, positions him well to contribute meaningfully to our business. We look forward to welcoming him as we continue to cultivate long-term partnerships with investors across the region.”
Lester added: “I’m very pleased to be joining Ausbil, given its strong reputation for active management and longstanding relationships with clients. I look forward to working with the broader distribution team to support our wholesale partners across NSW and the ACT.”
Established in 1997, Ausbil has $21.3 billion in funds under management (FUM) and specialises in delivering Australian and global equites investment management services for major superannuation funds, institutional investors, master trusts and retail clients.
Ausbil spent last year diving into the ETF market, launching the Ausbil Active Dividend Income Fund – Active ETF (DIVI), its first offering in this space, in September.
Shortly after this, the firm launched three more funds in quick succession, including:
- Ausbil Global Essential Infrastructure Fund (Hedged) Active ETF (GHIF)
- Ausbil Global SmallCap Fund Active ETF (GSCF)
- Candriam Sustainable Global Equity Fund – Active ETF (GSUS)
GHIF and GSCF were both launched in mid-October as ETF versions of existing managed funds, expanding access to these strategies. This follows a similar trend seen among active managers.
At the end of the month Ausbil launched GSUS in collaboration with global asset manager Candriam to meet a growing investor demand for an actively managed portfolio of sustainable, listed equities, featuring best-of-sector companies from across the globe.
