INVESTMENT COMMITTEE
MUGUNTHAN SIVA
Chairman
Mugunthan spent three years in India as CIO of a boutique asset management business. In this period Mugunthan set up a foreign access vehicle to allow global investors to access India’s equity markets. Mugunthan previously worked as Head of Portfolio Management for ANZ Wealth in Australia and has over 20 years of experience in portfolio construction, manager selection as well as credit and equity research at companies such as Macquarie Bank and Westpac. Mugunthan has also managed multi- asset, alternatives and global/emerging market share portfolios. He has an MBA in Finance from the University of Technology, Sydney, Graduate Diploma in Investment & Finance from the Financial Services Institute of Australia and holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from the University of NSW, Sydney.
ARAN NAGENDRA
Member
Aran has worked in the Australian investment and superannuation industry for over 10 years. His experience covers capital markets research, asset allocation, multi-asset portfolio management, quantitative analysis and investment manager research. Aran previously worked at MLC, one of Australia’s largest multi-asset funds and prior to this held roles at ING Investment Management and ANZ Wealth where he researched and assisted in the management of alternatives and global/emerging share market portfolios. He is a CFA charterholder and holds a Bachelor of Commerce & Bachelor of Science majoring in Finance and Mathematics from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
MARTIN DUNCAN
Member
Martin currently undertakes advisory, consulting and investment committee roles for the funds management industry, based on his 31 years’ experience in stockbroking, investment banking, and funds management. He was previously Analyst/Portfolio Manager at Arnhem Investment Management and Senior Analyst at Colonial First State responsible for research coverage of Retail, Property, and Wealth Management /Life Insurance sectors of the Australian stock market. Prior to this he served as Executive Director in the Macquarie Equities division covering the Retail sector and was rated No.1 Retail analyst in the Greenwich analyst survey in 2001. He has also worked at various other investment banks such as J.P Morgan, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration (B.C.A.), Accounting and Finance from the Victoria University of Wellington and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management.
PETER PONTIKIS
Member
Peter is a Treasury and Investment Management professional based in Brisbane. He has more than three decades of investment, corporate dealing, trading and research experience in currencies and global money markets. Peter also has also consulted for the Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA) and CPA Australia in the area of treasury and treasury derivative accounting where he currently sits on their Financial Risk Management advisory committee. Prior to his recent consulting roles with KPMG, Peter also bore senior responsibility as Wealth Director at Westpac and St George Private banks (2013-14) in Queensland as well serving at ANZ Trustees (2008-2013) as their Investment Specialist for WA/NT and QLD. He was also the Group Treasury Strategist for Suncorp Banking, Head of Trading & Research for a boutique Australian hedge fund and Senior Financial Markets Strategist for Westpac Investment Bank. Until 2005 he also ran a consultancy advising Asian central banks and fund managers. A Fellow of CPA Australia, Peter has served on FINSIA’s International Advisory Committee where he is a senior Fellow and remains on their Financial Advisory council. Peter has authored several books on foreign exchange and trading in financial markets as well as producing a training CD on Chinese Financial Markets.
India Avenue is a boutique investment management firm providing investment solutions that allow our clients to benefit from India’s remarkable growth story.
OUR BUSINESS
2005
The journey towards the “birth” of India Avenue originated in 2005, when ING Investment Management started a business in India as a separate division, utilising a practiced multi-manager philosophy in markets like Australia, and exported it to India. Three of our founders, Mugunthan Siva, Rajeev Thakkar and Sajjan Raut Desai worked together for INGIM (India), building investment strategies and structures, under this philosophy and applying them to Indian capital markets
2011
In 2011 our founders started discussing the possibility of building an investment firm with a capability to provide a focus on India as an stand-alone investment jurisdiction for foreign investors. The founders identified Australia and New Zealand as nascent markets for investing in regional locations, with the potential to accelerate given education and insights which the firm could provide.
2015
By 2015 the group of founders decided to work full-time on this concept to bring it to life. They did this by leaving their existing employment, thus exercising high conviction in the investment region of India as a long-term structural story for investors in Australia and New Zealand. Thus, the firm India Avenue Investment Management was registered and came to life in 2015 in Sydney, Australia.
2016
After building our business for a period of 12 months, our first fund, The India Avenue Equity Fund was launched on 6th September 2016, with strong service provider partners like Equity Trustees (RE), Mainstream (Fund Administrator), KPMG (Fund Auditor) and BNP India (Custodian).
NOW
India Avenue is now a boutique investment business firm, with clients spread across family offices, high net worth individuals, wealth advisers and financial planning firms. Our firm has focused on education and knowledge as a driver of investment behaviour and have taken a long-term approach towards Australian and New Zealand investors contemplating an allocation to India’s growth as part of their portfolios. Our firm has assets in excess of A$50m and the India Avenue Equity Fund is rated “Recommended”* by Lonsec and is available on multiple investment platforms across Australia and New Zealand.