MitonOptimal to launch a South African commodity fund management business

MitonOptimal, the specialist global multi asset management company with a presence in Guernsey, South Africa and Singapore today announces that Andy Pfaff has joined the team in Cape Town to lead the development of a domestic commodity fund management bus

Andy has many years of experience on investment bank proprietary trading desks, including Investec and Rand Merchant Bank, and he was a founder of Trendline hedge fund management. Trendline was the winner of an industry award for best trading hedge fund in 2005 and best futures fund in 2008. He is also a former director of the SA Institute of Financial Markets and the Hedge Fund Association of SA.

“The opportunity to develop a commodity focused boutique fund management business at MitonOptimal is extremely exciting. There is vast opportunity in the relative return long only collective investment scheme space and absolute return / hedge fund market due to the changes in Regulation 28 for pension funds and Notice 1503 for unit trusts in recent times, allowing larger investment in commodities. We intend to become the market leader in this space domestically” stated Andy Pfaff.

Scott Campbell, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer at MitonOptimal added “We are extremely lucky to have someone with the vast experience and talents of Andy joining the team. The opportunity to add the commodity and trading skills to the team is enormous and the potential of the commodity asset class in the domestic industry in very exciting”.

Under Regulation 28, pension funds and collective investment schemes can now allocate 10% to commodities and whilst many global asset managers offer products and services in this space, there is no dedicated discretionary commodity fund manager in SA. The recent launch of physically backed commodity ETF’s that comply with revision of Notice 1503 to the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act 2002 and the development in the derivatives market, particularly with grains and other soft commodities creates a complex investment universe that needs careful guidance.

With MitonOptimal well placed in the domestic multi asset retail market and institutional asset consulting with Professor Evan Gilbert, there are multiple synergies for clients who require expert commodity portfolio management advice and discretionary management.