Start-up Volantis Capital has secured its first asset allocation and in its first six-month cycle has posted comparable performance to more established & top performers in the Money Market space.
Proudly South African investment house Volantis Capital has secured its first allocation of funds to invest – on behalf of a large retirement fund, whose sponsor is a leading wireline and wireless telecommunications provider. The 200 million Rand mandate comes from the retirement fund’s drive to advance home-grown investment firms. The confidence in the new company is already being rewarded – the capital placed in Volantis’s Money Market Fund has outperformed those of more established players in its first six-month cycle.
Lengthy approvals process
The allocation from the retirement fund comes after Volantis completed the extensive process of being licensed to trade in South Africa’s investment market. The trading house, which specializes in fixed income, was established in 2018 and spent the last three years securing its license with regulatory body the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), investing in its infrastructure to manage money and finding the brightest research and investment talent to deliver to customer requirements.
The company is not only new, it is also young, with all staff members under 40 years of age. However, all members boast impressive CVs, with extensive research and portfolio building experience obtained at blue chip financial services companies in South Africa. Its investment strategy combines two alpha sources – interest rates and credit risk management – and it is these, along with effective research and portfolio management, that is contributing to the strong performance of Volantis’s fund. The company is also investing heavily in technology, with award-winning financial services technology consulting firm Elenjical Solutions being instrumental in supporting Volantis with technology advisory and solutions.
Reassure other potential investors
“This is a great sign of confidence in our abilities – having landed our inaugural mandate it will go a long way towards reassuring other potential investors that they can entrust their mandates with us,” says Sisa Mayekiso, CEO of Volantis Capital. “It’s hard to establish a track record without support, and we are therefore very grateful to this, our first client, for their faith in us. I would encourage other asset allocators and pension funds to take a closer look at us.”
This mandate came via 27four Investment Managers, a leading independent South African-based provider of pooled multi-manager and customised fiduciary management solutions.
Best-in-class approach
Volantis is a dedicated fixed income specialist that employs best-in-class technologies and processes to obtain consistent & positive risk adjusted returns for its clients. The Volantis Money Market fund is a discretionary fund that targets a high cash return through a balanced and actively managed mixture of interest-bearing instruments. It seeks to outperform its benchmark over a 12-month rolling period, and in its first six months has started as it means to carry on, beating the benchmark by 32bps over the last six months.
“Our vision is to be recognized in Africa as a leading investment management firm, one that consistently meets our clients’ investment goals in a repeatable and sustainable manner,” concludes Mayekiso. “We are confident that our inaugural client’s investment is the springboard to great things for our clients, and for us.”
