Grindrod Asset Management: new shareholder & rebranding announcement

The Nedgroup Investments Best of Breed™ philosophy sees us partner with select fund managers who we believe are able to provide consistent long-term outperformance for our clients.

Grindrod Asset Management (Pty) Limited (GrAM) has been a long standing partner of Nedgroup Investments. GrAM currently oversees just over R2bn of our clients’ investments in the Nedgroup Investments Property Fund, which has been managed by Ian Anderson (CIO, GrAM) since inception in 2010.

The Board of Directors of GrAM recently announced its decision to introduce a new shareholder in the form of Infinitus Holdings (Pty) Limited (Infinitus); an investment holding company focused on high-growth businesses in the consumer, industrial and financial services sectors. The transaction sees JSE-listed Grindrod Limited, via its subsidiary GFS Holdings (Pty) Limited (GFS), exchange its entire GrAM shareholding for Infinitus shares, thereby increasing its already significant shareholding in Infinitus.

After the transaction GFS will own 49% of Infinitus and therefore Grindrod retains a major indirect stake in GrAM. Grindrod is therefore not exiting the business, but rather changing the way it holds its interest in GrAM. The transaction will enable GrAM to develop its own brand identity that best describes GrAM’s investment approach.

With effect from 17 January 2017 GrAM will change its name to Bridge Fund Managers. The rebranding will not have any impact on the internal business structure and GrAM will continue to have full investment autonomy and day-to-day operational independence. Ian Anderson will remain the lead portfolio manager on the Nedgroup Investments Property Fund and GrAM will continue to manage clients’ assets according to the same investment philosophy and process as they do now.

We have been engaging closely with GrAM over the past few months and remain comfortable that the key motivations that led us to appoint the manager, and their ability to provide long-term outperformance for our clients, remain intact.

Should you have further queries regarding this notification, please call our Client Services Centre on 0860 123 263 or send an email to info@nedgroupinvestments.co.za.