Active equity firm Martin Currie has secured the necessary approvals to complete its purchase of the business assets and investment management team of long/short Japan equity boutique PK Investment Management.
London-based PK Investment Management is led by Paul Kirkby, who will now be lead manager of Martin Currie offshore and UCITS funds. He has also been appointed lead manager of Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS fund, the Legg Mason Japan Absolute Alpha Fund.
Claire Marwick, incumbent manager at Martin Currie, will also join the investment management team.
Andy Sowerby, head of sales and marketing at Martin Currie, said: “This is an exciting milestone in the development of our Japanese long/short capability. By capitalising on the combined strength of our collective resources we can further establish ourselves as a leading manager in this specialist area.”
Kirkby said: “We are delighted to be joining Martin Currie at this particularly interesting time. Japan has now recorded four consecutive years of gains and it will be interesting to see if this trend can be continued in 2016. Whilst the stock market has doubled from the 2012 lows, profits have grown at the same pace and thus valuations are not as stretched as might be expected.”
“With supportive central bank and government policies in place, allied to improving corporate governance helping drive further balance sheet efficiency, we see a continued positive backdrop for investors, provided that global economic conditions do not deteriorate meaningfully in the year ahead.”
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