These are developments in an around news investments, funds, products and services in the Asia-Pacific market of relevance to wealth management clients.

Macquarie
As a sign of how prospects of how investment firms are facing up to the prospect of rising interest rates, Australia’s Macquarie Investment Management has brought has brought out three new funds including one that offers increased diversification, the firm said yesterday. 

The organisation said it has launched the Macquarie Absolute Return Mortgage-Backed Securities Fund - a sub-fund of a Luxembourg SICAV (UCITS compliant) - which enables certain global investors access to Macquarie’s existing Absolute Return Mortgage-Backed Securities (ARMBS) strategy. Macquarie also introduced two other funds: Macquarie Global Multi Asset Income Fund, which seeks to provide investors with current income and an investment that has the potential for long-term capital appreciation, and Macquarie US Smaller Companies Fund, which aims to generate long-term capital appreciation by investing in US small- to mid-cap companies.

“With interest rates rising slowly, global investors continue to seek ways to diversify, manage duration risk, and increase yield in their fixed income portfolios,” Brian McDonnell, portfolio manager of the new Macquarie Absolute Return Mortgage-Backed Securities Fund, said. “We have managed the strategy for a decade and are pleased to offer our ARMBS capabilities to a wider group of investors who are seeking liquidity with a higher potential risk-adjusted return,” McDonnell added.

All three funds are domiciled in Luxembourg as UCITS-compliant SICAV investment vehicles.

Macquarie Investment Management is a global asset manager with offices in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia. As at the end of September this year, it oversaw $246 billion of assets.

NSI
Singapore-headquartered venture capital and investment firm NSI has held its first close of NSI Ventures II, LP, bringing total assets under management to more than $150 million.

The initial closing of the fund was backed by investors including university endowments, pension funds and international financial institutions. The fund continues NSI's strategy of investing in Series A and B rounds of the best Southeast Asian technology companies. Areas of focus for NSI Ventures II, L.P. will include healthtech, fintech, edtech, consumer applications, cloud-based solutions and smart hardware.

The organisation’s fund made its first investment in Biofourmis -- a Singapore-based healthcare technology company using proprietary AI technology to prevent avoidable readmissions for post-acute cardiac patients. 

Deutsche Asset Management
Deutsche Asset Management acquired 180 Queens St, a heritage-listed, high street retail building located in the Queen Street Mall of the Brisbane CBD, Australia, on behalf of one of its German domiciled real estate fund. The building covers about 1,400 square metres of space.

The purchase follows the recent office building acquisition of 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne; 120 Edward Street in Brisbane as well as three logistics acquisitions across Brisbane and Melbourne made by Deutsche AM so far this year. Deutsche AM’s real estate business has $57.6 billion globally in assets under management as of 30 September, 2017.