Jersey-based active investment managers Ashburton today announced the signing of an exclusive partnership agreement with Nordea, a large financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region, as part of its strategy to further develop its business and international presence. Nordea will be launching a new European Equity sub fund on its Nordea 1, SICAV platform – the Nordea 1-European Alpha Fund – the investment advisor of which is Ashburton’s European Equity Fund management team based in Jersey. This new product will be managed identically to the top ranking ten year old Ashburton European Equity Fund and Ashburton is currently enhancing the team to support it. Nordea’s European Fund Distribution organisation will sell the Ashburton European Equity investment solution to 16 European countries excluding the UK. The European Equity Fund, which currently has around €80 million ($113.3 million) under management, has an unconstrained relative approach and focuses on the quality and attractiveness of individual sectors and companies, rather than the outlook for particular markets. The fund is managed by Richard Robinson and has achieved an average compound rate of return of 13.2 per cent since its 1997 launch. The fund’s top down approach is informed by conviction investing, according to Mr Robinson. “We look for investment opportunities in companies that aren’t over leveraged, have good liquidity and which operate in sectors in which there are structural shortages,” he told a group of journalists. “All the fund’s investment are based in Europe but with a footing in the global themes that we’ve identified,” he said. “Recently we’ve been concentrating on themes such as German recovery, the death of cheap oil and the knock-on effects of growth in Asia.” The new deal is a landmark for Ashburton which has recently appointed a new managing director, Peter Bourne, who arrived from the companies parent First Rand of South Africa three months ago. Mr Bourne’s brief is to grow the business as well as to further culturally integrate into the group. He also sees more business coming out of the parent’s huge distribution network in South Africa. “In the future I expect us to access more private clients through intermediaries and that the investment process will be more focused on new age products such as alternatives,” Mr Bourne told WealthBriefing. Ashburton’s business is currently divided into three sections, an actively managed asset management product with an absolute return focus, regional equity funds and a bespoke asset management service for clients with over $1 million to invest. The company currently has around 65 dedicated staff and around £1 billion in assets under management. Alongside its Jersey presence, it has representative offices in Dubai, London and South Africa.