A clear paradigm shift is required to deal with dramatically altered socio economic and demographic dynamics across the globe. Be it the explosion in the global population and the impact on scarce resources like minerals, food and water, violent protests due to the growing divide between the wealthy and the poor or well publicised corruption and corporate greed, concrete actions are required to deal with these challenges as it does have a direct impact on investment markets and future expected returns.

The South African Savings Industry has enacted various initiatives to deal with these as well as Regulation 28 and the uniquely South African challenge of broad economic participation by the previously disadvantaged. Given the concentration of assets with a few select large money managers, some whom are closed to new business, has left investors with little choice to address this multitude of requirements in one holistic approach that still aims to maximize investment returns for members.

Alusi Asset Management aims to address these requirements through a unique combination of staff ownership and the best emerged talent to pro-actively incorporate all the regulatory, social, governance and empowerment criteria without compromising on the most critical component, SUSTAINABLE long-term returns.

Our culture and entrepreneurial business structure is an extension of the longer term Edge Capital success, as Alusi Asset Management has its origins as a stand-alone business enterprise development initiative by Edge Capital. After previous attempts at contributing to a more inclusive economic dispensation in South Africa, Edge Capital had come to the conclusion that this objective is best achieved through a broad-based, more widely inclusive model but importantly is performance focused.

Edge Capital’s own history of starting out as a small, entrepreneurial alternative manager and the challenges faced in growing into the leading, independent alternative manager, resonate strongly with Alusi Asset Management’s strategic objective. Simply put, it is to provide talented, niche managers who have excellent track records but limited product sets, distribution capabilities and instant brand recognition, the platform to grow and expand their passion and ability whilst delivering above average returns for the client. Alusi Asset Management, like Edge Capital initially, aims to be a pioneer in the establishment and development of fund-of-new talent funds in the South African market. Our entrepreneurial spirit, passion for exceeding client expectations and diversity of skill and experience drives our innovation and leadership position in an industry with extremely high barriers to sustainable success.

Alusi Asset Management as a performance driven asset manager looks to provide clients with above average investment returns through partnering with successful managers outside the main stream universe. We achieve this through a disciplined, meticulous process of finding the best niche manager talent to have emerged in South Africa post integration, and combining this multi-council approach within a sensible asset allocation process based on pragmatic valuation principles.

Empirical evidence conclusively identifies the following 4 differentiators for achieving sustainable performance:

• Size and stability; smaller teams, smaller assets, fewer products!
• Accountability and alignment;owner/manager, focused teams, long tenure.
• Decision-making process:;disciplined, repetitive process applied to specific asset class.
• Clear, distinctive philosophy on how to make money.

Whilst these four factors are the foundations, there are three additional differentiators that form the bedrock of our process:

• Differentiated ideas and networks, allowing for an active, flexible investment approach that has it’s basis in the broader alternative investment group we form part of
• Long-term, sustainable returns which is ensured through pro-actively incorporating ESG principles into our underlying manager processes
• Challenging the conventional norm and transforming the competitive asset management landscape as required by both legislation but more importantly moral obligation.

Alusi Asset Management incorporates these critical elements without prejudice to investment outcomes or long-term sustainability to our clients.