Private equity firm Pharos Financial Group (Pharos) has set itself the goal of securing $100 million in separately managed account (SMA) investments through its Proactive Portfolios business in the next six months.
Pharos Financial Group managing director Mark Perry said while the goal is ambitious, as the firm gained $10 million worth of investments in its first three weeks of business Perry believes the feat is possible.
“Managed accounts and especially SMAs are the future,” Perry said.
“Ours are the first and to our knowledge the only rated multi-asset class SMAs in Australia, but once people realise how good they are for clients many more are likely to pop up in the near future.”
Proactive Portfolios has three multi-asset class SMAs – balanced, growth and high growth.
“SMAs were chosen over alternative options like managed funds due to their transparency (fees and holdings), the fact the clients held the assets directly and because they allowed for greater tax management and decisions around corporate actions,” Perry said.
He said the funds would aim to deliver 2 per cent above their benchmarks – a performance objective arrived at after extensive modelling and back testing.
Former van Eyk Research co-founder James Purvis will head up the funds.
Purvis will be joined by a number of contracted investment professionals in Tim Farrelly (Asset Allocation), Brian Nash (Merlea), David Lieu (ATI) and Bill Keenan (Lonsec).
The firm’s SMAs recently gained an approval rating from Lonsec.
At present, Proactive Portfolios’ three SMAs are available on the Financial Prosperity Wealth Solutions SMA platform, with Pharos in talks with a number of other platform providers.
