Proactive Portfolios sets $100m SMA goal
Firm gives itself six-month target
By Kate Kachor
Tue 15 Jun 2010
http://www.investordaily.com/cps/rde/xchg/id/style/9416.htm?rdeCOQ=SID-0A3D9633-61BFCDFE
Pharos Financial Group eyes $100 million in SMA investments for its Proactive Portfolios business.
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.
Purvis attracts SMA mandate with new venture
Thursday, 13 May 2010 12:05pm
http://www.financialstandard.com.au/news/view/28783/
James Purvis, founder of one of the biggest financial planning research groups in Australia, has opened an implemented portfolio business that's attracting mandates from the managed account market.
He founded Purvis, van Eyk and Company in 1989, now known as van Eyk Research. In 1995, he left the firm and today the investment and ratings company provides research to more than 50 per cent of financial advisers in Australia.
Continuing to provide asset allocation research and risk management advice, he advised industry super fund, LUCRF, between 1992 and 2006 and was the executive chairperson at United Funds Management for three years to 1998.
He launched Proactive Portfolios at the end of last year, a business that houses the research and knowledge he's developed of multi-asset and multi-manager model portfolios.
The firm provides expertise to financial planners using implemented portfolios on separately managed account (SMA) platforms.
OneVue selected Proactive Portfolios as the manager of its three additional portfolios, which will soon be available on the OneVue Managed Account. These include Balanced, Growth and High Growth.
"[OneVue's SMA platform] ability to implement proactive strategies including direct shares, ETFs and other Exchange Traded Assets such as REITs and hybrids is essential to our success because the Proactive Portfolios will incorporate these into one diversified SMA," said Purvis.
The portfolios are expected to be available using other white labels of the OneVue Managed Account in the next few months.
Michael Hobbs