EBS Building Society has entered into a tied agency relationship with Irish Life Assurance plc, to act as bancassurance product provider going forward.
As a result, EBS has transferred EBS Asset Managers Limited (EBSAM), the company that manages EBS’ Summit Investment Funds plc and Summit Mutual Funds plc to Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM). Oppenheim has managed the funds on behalf of EBS since 1990, and Irish Life Investment Managers will take direct responsibility for managing the Summit funds no later than January 2007.
The Summit range of funds currently consists of four funds: Summit Growth Fund; Summit Balanced Fund; Summit Global Leaders Fund; and the Summit Technology Fund.
However, with Irish Life on board, EBS is set to expand its range of investment funds. The mutual has launched ‘EBS Choice Investments’, which will offer 15 fund options, spanning different types of assets, across a number of different geographical and industry sectors. The funds are split into three categories – general indexed funds, specialist indexed funds and actively managed funds.
The aforementioned Summit Funds will fall into the actively managed category, along with its first property fund, The Property Portfolio Fund. This fund will eventually be exposed to approximately 300 properties in approximately 11 countries across the retail, industrial and office commercial property sectors. The fund will invest directly in Irish and UK properties and indirectly in a number of funds that own properties in the EU, European Union Accession countries, European Free Trade Association countries and Turkey.
Irish Life has had a long association with indexed funds, introducing the concept in Ireland in 1996. The firm currently manages €12 billion in indexed assets. ILIM has over €27 billion in funds under management as of July 31st, and is Ireland’s largest property manager with property worth in excess of €2 billion. |
