Australian Ethical Investment has completed the acquisition of local fixed income manager Altius Asset Management, which will inflate the company’s total assets by almost 20%.
The deal comes after Australian Ethical entered into an agreement with Australian Unity in May to buy Altius AM from the health and wealth conglomerate for A$5.5 million (US$3.75 million).
Sydney-based Altius primarily focuses on cash and fixed interest investments and has over 130,000 investors across managed and superannuation funds.
The transaction will boost the company’s funds under management by around A$2 billion to A$12.3 billion. After the acquisition, Alitus will continue to manage cash and fixed interest portfolios for Australian Unity, Australian Ethical says in a statement on September 25.
Altius’ co-founders Bill Bovingdon, Chris Dickman and Gavin Goodhand will report to Ludovic Theau, Australian Ethical’s chief investment officer.
According to John McMurdo, chief executive of Australian Ethical, the deal is an “important step” in the successful execution of the company’s growth strategy.
“Altius is a leading purpose-driven fixed-income manager with a team of six that will deepen our fixed income investment capability and ability to deliver sound investment returns,” McMurdo says in the statement.
Sydney-headquartered Australian Ethical has around A$10.3 billion of total assets.