BNP Paribas Investment Partners has established a fixed-income investment team and appointed Doyle Mallett as head of Australian fixed income.
BNP Paribas Investment Partners Australia chief executive Robert Harrison said the decision to open a fixed-income shop was largely based on an increased demand for defensive assets.
"We felt there was a market appetite for it," Harrison said.
"A lot of the incumbents in the space have moved up the risk spectrum in terms of getting equity risk-type assets in their portfolios. We focus on fixed income as a defensive asset class," he said.
The decision was facilitated by the availability of Mallett, Harrison said.
"Fixed income is the only major asset class that we don't play in and we found the timely availability of an excellent portfolio manager, so we put the two together and decided to go down that road."
Mallett will be responsible for formulating and managing the new fixed-income products, which will be available both to Australian institutional and retail investors and to BNP Paribas' offshore funds seeking exposure to Australian fixed income.
He joins from Austock Asset Management, where he held the roles of head of fixed interest and portfolio manager. Mallet also had stints with 452 Capital Warakirri Asset Management.
Mallet spent the majority of his career with BT Funds Management, where he became head of global fixed interest, currency, asset allocation and economics before leaving in 2002.
BNP is planning to add four more analysts or portfolio managers to the team, Harrison said.
The firm is planning to launch two products: an Australian core fixed-income fund and a diversified fixed-income fund.
The diversified fund will leverage off expertise within other BNP offices, particularly the expertise in international bonds, Harrison said.
He also indicated that the firm has plans to set up separately managed account (SMA) products.
"We are looking to focus on the concept of SMAs in the fixed-income space," he said.
"That has been done quite well in Aussie equities and we think we could have the same capability in the fixed-income space."
