Treasury Group has acquired a 20 per cent equity stake in Singapore-based equity manager Octis Asset Management after both parties signed a partnership agreement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Treasury now has the option to increase its stake in Octis by 10 per cent. The initial acquisition price for the 20 per cent stake was around $224,000.
Treasury funded the acquisition from working capital and the strike price of the option was correlated to the prevailing net asset backing at the time the options were exercised, the company said in a statement.
The Octis investment team, led by Jerome Ferracci, has achieved 22 per cent net returns since the Asian multi-strategy equity manager was founded in 2007 against -21 per cent for the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, as at 31 May 2012.
Commenting on the purchase, Treasury chief executive Andrew McGill said: "We have been interested in diversifying into alternatives and have been actively searching for opportunities.
"We are very pleased about partnering with a quality business that offers access to Asia with low volatility. We look forward to assisting in the growth of Octis both in Australia and overseas."
Octis currently has $50 million in funds under management.
