Inflows boost Henderson assets under management to £89.4bn

Henderson Global Investors increased its assets under management by 10 per cent in the first quarter as it benefited from improving investment performance and the rally in European equities.

The Anglo-Australian fund manager, known for its Europe-focused funds, ended March with £89.4bn under management, profiting from the announcement of quantitative easing in the eurozone in January.

An acceleration in new business growth has reinforced the company's turnround under the leadership of Andrew Formica, chief executive. He has sought to diversify and extend the business, which two years ago was suffering some of the worst outflows among big UK asset managers.

"Increased client demand for European assets has coincided with a sustained period of excellent investment performance from our core European products," Mr Formica said.

The company's top-selling funds also included bond, absolute return and property products, he added.

Henderson attracted £3.6bn of net inflows in the first three months of 2015, some £2.9bn of that into its retail fund range. Institutional inflows were slimmer at £700m.

Henderson's fortunes contrast with those of fellow London-listed asset managers Aberdeen Asset Management and Ashmore, which have suffered over the past two years from their exposure to vulnerable emerging markets.

Henderson continues to steal market share from its rivals, said Peter Lenardos, analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

Performance improved across the board, with 86 per cent of Henderson's funds outperforming over three years.

"We are starting to see signs that new investment we made in teams and capabilities is improving performance, and that will hopefully contribute to flows in the years ahead," Mr Formica told investors.

However, he warned that market uncertainties made the rest of this year hard to predict, while regulatory pressure was also a worry.

"There's not a week that goes by without the announcement of another regulatory intervention," he said.

The company meanwhile announced it would sell its 40 per cent stake in the London-based joint venture TH Real Estate to its partner TIAA-CREF, a US retirement provider, for £80m.

Start-up costs in the joint venture had proved higher than expected, Henderson said, while TIAA-CREF wanted to integrate the venture more closely with its other businesses.

Paul McGinnis, analyst at Shore Capital, said: "The slow start of the joint venture was an issue we commented on at the time of the final results, so we regard this sale as a clean exit from an underperforming area."

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation