Milestone for Frater's Asset Management

Frater Group Holdings have launched their own unit trust company, Frater Unit Trust Management Company.

The company's three unit trusts, the Earth Equity Fund, the Flexible Fund and Real Income Fund were previously administered under a white label agreement with Strategic Investment Services who were responsible for the compliance of the funds, the relationship with the custodians and banks, while the administration was handled by AOS.

'We were not unhappy with this relationship, the launch of our own unit trust company is merely a function of our increased experience with these matters and our increased assets under management. It just makes good business sense,' said the newly appointed Managing Director of the Fraters Unit Trust Funds, Charles van der Spuy.

'By managing our own unit trust company we will be able to offer improved client service to investors, which includes quicker response times, enhanced reporting and easier access to client information. This will also enhance our ability to launch new products,' said van der Spuy.

'I think that when the Financial Services Board first introduced the legislation that made it possible for asset managers to launch unit trust funds without having their own administration facilities and systems, it was the intention that these companies would graduate to the next stage at some point,' he said.

The company has always enjoyed good relationships with Linked Investment Service Providers, such as Equinox and independent financial advisors and this will not change. 'We do not advertise, we rely on word of mouth and our performance history,' said van der Spuy, 'and I don't see this changing.'

At this point there are no plans to launch new unit trusts. However, if a new fund were to be launched it would be most likely that it would be a Shari'ah compliant fund.

'We managed the Futuregrowth Albaraka Fund for six years and have an expertise in this field, so I would guess that if and when we launch a new fund, it will be a fund with a Shari'ah compliant mandate,' said van der Spuy.

Fraters has R6bn under management, including R1,7bn invested across the three unit trust funds. The directors of the new unit trust company will be Anwah Nagia, Charl van der Spuy, Megan Brandt and James Frater (non-executive).