City veteran Sir John Beckwith launches new asset management business
Sir John Beckwith’s Pacific Investments has announced the launch of a new asset management business.
Pacific Asset Management (PAM) will initially have $250m (£201m) in assets under management (AUM).
Pacific Investments has previously founded Liontrust Asset Management, River & Mercantile, Nevsky Capital, Thames River Capital and Europa Capital. These businesses currently manage more than $20bn of assets.
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The company, founded by Beckwith and Mark Johnson in 1994, also has real estate and private equity divisions.
PAM will become the “core focus” of Pacific’s asset management businesses and will be led by Matthew Lamb, who was most recently global head of liquid alternatives at Deutsche Asset Management.
“This is something we have been planning and working towards for two years,” said Beckwith.
“We have built a robust institutional infrastructure to ensure that the new team and funds are fully-fledged and ready-for-market.”
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Lamb said: “The Pacific Investments group has an outstanding track record and is the perfect home for an ambitious, entrepreneurial team.
“While the modernisation – some would say industrialisation – of the asset management industry has brought clear benefits which we will exploit, there is still a role for active managers to blend their skills and insight.
“We will deploy a modern but common-sense investment approach, that in a zero-interest world will apply institutional processes to a retail customer base with a fee structure to match.”