Ashburton Investments’ COO Mill Makanda on its upward growth trajectory
Ashburton Investments has shown remarkable growth in the past financial year, with assets under management (AUM) increasing by 11% - an increase from R138 billion in 2024 to R154 billion in 2025, mainly from net positive inflows of R12 billion.
Mill Makanda, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Ashburton Investments, believes the asset manager’s strong growth in the future would continue to come from its well-known Fixed Income track record.
“Traditionally, we have been known as a Fixed Income house, because of a very solid track record in this regard, which we want to continue. In the future I also foresee positive growth contributions coming from other parts of the business, most notably our Multi Asset portfolio, our offshore solutions, and tailored solutions such as new feeder funds to meet specific client needs,” says Makanda, who is also the Managing Director of the Ashburton Management Company.
It is important that the market realises that Ashburton Investments is in fact “an all-rounder with several strong teams” and a “solutions house rather than simply a product house”, he explains.
Ashburton’s three top performing funds
In the past financial year, ending in June 2025, Ashburton’s top three funds were Fixed Income funds, namely the Ashburton Stable Income Fund, which has R29 billion in AUM, the Ashburton Money Market Fund, with R21.6 billion in AUM, and the Ashburton Core Plus Income Fund at R11.4 billion. Another strong performer was the Ashburton Targeted Return Fund, which is sitting at R1.8 billion.
The continued growth of its funds places it within the top five fastest-growing asset management companies in South Africa, growing above 20% per annum compounded, over the last six years, relative to the industry’s 12% annual growth rate. Two out of three of its funds ranked in the top two quartiles relative to peers over the past year.
Recent case studies on Ashburton’s solutions-based thinking
Ashburton Investments recently assisted a mining client who needed to put money aside for future environmental rehabilitation, as part of its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) objectives. Ashburton’s Liability-Driven Investments (LDI) team stepped in to craft a tailored solution to protect and grow the client’s multi-billion investment.
It also recently assisted a corporate client who faced the challenge of having a large US Dollar portfolio offshore, which it wanted to derisk. Another pension fund client, in turn, wanted to take billions offshore to protect its clients against the Rand volatility.
“Ashburton can solve problems like these through its Dollar-denominated products, capabilities in Luxembourg, and through its international investment powerhouse partner, Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM). We have multiple capabilities, local and offshore products, and a solutioning mindset, which means clients don’t need to go to various asset managers to solve different parts of the same problem. We can solve it.”
Looking to the future
Looking to the future, Makanda expects the company to continue to do well with corporate and institutional clients.
“Ashburton’s recent growth trajectory demonstrates consistency and discipline in our investment process,” he says. “It also reflects our commitment to delivering both sides of the coin – return on capital and return of capital.”
