Emirates NBD has partnered with London-based Jupiter Asset Management to help manage global investment assets exceeding US$100 million.
The move by Dubai’s largest bank by assets comes as local investors are demanding more access to global markets.
Jupiter’s Merlin team has been appointed as a so-called delegate investment adviser to the Emirates NBD funds that are not managed on Islamic principles, according to David Marshall, a senior executive officer at Emirates NBD Asset Management.
It was expected that the partnership with Jupiter would attract investors to Emirates NBD’s offering of international funds, he said yesterday.
Jupiter, a boutique firm, is well-known in the asset management industry for its Merlin line of funds, which invest in other mutual funds.
The firm would also manage a new multi-asset fund of Emirates NBD called Emirates Global Quarterly Income Fund, Mr Marshall said.
The fund will issue investors quarterly dividends from assets including fixed-income securities such as bonds, and equities that offer high dividends.
The Merlin team manages $16 billion of assets of various classes, and will use its so-called fund-of-funds strategy that aims to buy units of funds with the best-performing managers for the Emirates Global Quarterly Income Fund.
Jupiter, which was founded in 1985 and listed in London in 2010, manages assets exceeding $50bn.
Emirates NBD’s move to bolster its international asset management business comes amid growing demand by UAE customers following the more than 80 per cent gain in Dubai’s stock index this year, according to Mr Marshall.
“Investors may want to take some money off the table [from the UAE stock markets] and diversify in global markets,” he said.
Kevin Scott, an executive director at Jupiter, said his firm’s move into the Middle East was part of a broader plan to expand into developing markets.
Of Emirates NBD’s Dh7.7bn in assets under management, the $140m Emirates Mena Top Companies Fund has been the best performer this year, gaining 25 per cent, while the top non-Islamic global fund, the $38m Emirates Active Managed Fund, has advanced 5.3 per cent.
mkassem@thenational.ae
