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A rising star in Australian quantitative investing will lift its offering up a notch as Melbourne-headquartered Spatium Capital merges with subsidiaries of Singapore-based Conduit Group, in a move that will consolidate their combined distribution with joint access to global capital markets.
Spatium Capital was founded by directors Nicholas Quinn and Jesse Moors as an independently owned, boutique funds management firm specialising in short-term price dislocations within the ASX 300 - a systematic approach that takes the emotion out of investing, and one that has delivered double-digit returns for a growing client base.
Their success earned the co-founders the 2024 Melbourne Young Entrepreneur Award - Finance last month, with Quinn noting on stage that whilst the investment methodology was unemotional, part of Spatium's appeal was its close and open connections with clients.
Quinn and Moors also 'put their money where their mouth is', investing in both the firm and the fund.
"The original thesis was quite simple - can you quantify when people are being fearful or greedy? And if so, the intention would be to go long companies people were fearful of and short other businesses when people were being greedy and pushing their returns to extended heights," says Quinn.
"We refined the long-side of the investment approach and thereby pursued a methodology that would quantify listed businesses that had become momentarily dislocated on a price basis to their peers, the wider market and their GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) classification.
"We then launched the strategy on 1 July 2018 and have been operating it ever since."
The merger through Conduit Securities and Conduit Asset Management will see Spatium and its Singaporean partner "consolidate years of positive interaction between both parties and leverage both firms’ deep expertise, resources".
"We are excited to embark on this alignment with Conduit Group," says Moors.
"Our shared commitment to innovation and delivering superior financial products will help us better serve our clients in Australia, offering them unique international investment opportunities in an increasingly interconnected financial world.
"The ability to meet the demand for truly innovative products for Australian wealth advisers, institutions and researchers is not to be understated in a market that is desperately seeking differentiation."
Conduit Group CEO Paul Durrant says the consolidation represents a significant milestone in both Conduit Group’s and Spatium Capital’s growth strategies.
"By combining our complementary strengths, and working together with Nicholas Quinn and Jesse Moors to enhance our ability to upscale exposure into international markets we are well-positioned to of er clients enhanced access to global capital markets and provide more robust solutions to meet their evolving financial needs," Durrant says.
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