A team of former Morgan Stanley investment specialists based in the United Kingdom plan to re-enter the Australian market after the currency funds they managed were axed by the firm.
The contingent recently formed Quiris Capital in London, an investment boutique focused on delivering a risk-controlled currency strategy to global clients.
It consists of six employees who worked at Morgan Stanley from 2004 to 2010, looking after over $3.1 billion of assets.
The managing partners are Justin Simpson, Chris Callan and Richard Mhende, who have 36 years of combined experience at Morgan Stanley.
The strategy that Quiris plans to develop would target institutional investors and private banks, specifically in Australia, Europe and the United States, according to a spokesperson for the firm.
“Our expertise in portfolio management, research and quantitative modelling enables us to take advantage of global market inefficiencies and volatility to generate absolute returns,” Simpson said.
“Our meetings with prospective investors show a strong interest in the strategy and we are looking forward to launching our first fund in the new year.”
While the Quiris team worked at Morgan Stanley, they were responsible for managing three funds which were distributed in Australia, including the Morgan Stanley FX Alpha, FX Alpha Plus Class A and FX Alpha Plus Class B.
The Australian dollar-denominated version of the funds were launched in January 2008 and had gained traction with research houses including Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and Lonsec, and platforms such as BT Wrap, Netwealth and MLC MasterKey Custom.
But S&P put the funds on hold in July, and eventually withdrew the ratings after it was notified that Invesco would not acquire the products as part of its acquisition of Morgan Stanley’s retail asset management business.
