NabInvest, fresh from its foray into direct global equities investment with its purchase of 25 per cent of US-based global equities manager Altrinsic, sees international infrastructure as the next leg of its expansion plans, its investment director said.
"A particular focus for us over the past 12 months has been property, global equities and infrastructure," nabInvest investment director Nick Basile told InvestorDaily.
"That's where our focus has been over the last 12 months. We've converted one in the property space, AREA Property Partners, was completed a few months ago.
"Altrinisic is what we've just announced, so the infrastructure remains open at the moment," he said.
NabInvest scouts continuously for investment partners and the northern hemisphere would be the natural place to find an infrastructure group in which to buy a stake, Basile said.
Asked whether that would be Europe or the United States, he said: "We're open. We're more interested in the capability."
Basile said NabInvest, which is part of National Australia Bank, may also look at international equities managers whose investment styles differ from Altrinsic's high-conviction, fundamental-value style.
About 25 per cent of Altrinsic's US$12 billion under management comes from Australian institutional investors.
Basile said nabInvest's next step is to create a retail international equities product for Australia and hire new staff to oversee its domestic distribution.
NabInvest, through its in-house management teams and external partners, manages about $45 billion in assets.
