Standard Life has awarded a £3bn (€3.5bn) mandate across Ninety One’s emerging markets equity and Asia ex-Japan strategies.
The strategies invest across the breadth of emerging markets, seeking opportunities in companies listed or based in emerging markets, as well as businesses with significant economic exposure to them, according to Ninety One.
The firm said the strategies’ active approach provides core exposure to Asian and global emerging market equities through portfolios with balanced exposure to growth, quality, value and momentum through the cycle. It added that with a long-term risk-adjusted alpha profile, the strategies offer the potential for excess returns through a focus on bottom-up stock selection without taking excessive risk.
The two strategies sit within Ninety One’s £25bn emerging markets equity platform, which offers a range of strategies tailored by geography, risk profile and investor objectives.
Nuwan Goonetilleke, interim group chief investment officer at Standard Life, said: “Emerging markets remain one of the most compelling sources of long-term growth in the global economy, but they are also an area where active management can add significant value.”
He added that Ninety One stood out through the strength of its emerging markets franchise, its established investment process and its balanced approach to active stock selection, making it a strong partner for our customers’ long-term savings.
“This appointment reflects our commitment to selecting high-conviction investment managers where we believe they can enhance customer outcomes, while supporting a more streamlined and resilient investment platform,” he continued.
“By combining the expertise of specialist investment managers with our scale and oversight, we aim to deliver stronger long-term outcomes and help more people build financial security in retirement.”
Hendrik du Toit, founder and chief executive officer of Ninety One, noted: “Emerging markets offer attractive investment opportunities. Today’s universe includes world-leading businesses and powerful growth stories at the forefront of the structural changes reshaping the global and regional landscape.”
He added that for long-term investors, emerging markets are not a peripheral allocation.
“They provide access to some of the most important structural growth opportunities in the global economy. Through this mandate, Standard Life’s customers will have access to that opportunity through a disciplined approach to stock selection and balanced risk through the cycle,” he said.
