Brown Brothers Harriman has converted two emerging-markets focused Luxembourg Socit d’Investissement Capital Variable (SICAVs), the Genesis Emerging Markets Investment Company and Genesis Smaller Companies SICAV. The SICAVs together total approximately $4.5 billion in assets.
The SICAVs previously were managed by JPMorgan.
BBH is providing a full range of services to the funds, including global custody, accounting, and transfer agency.
Launched in 1994, the Genesis Emerging Markets Investment Company is a Luxembourg-registered SICAV, with assets of approximately $3.3 billion. Its investment objective is long-term capital growth by investing in equity markets in developing countries.
The Genesis Smaller Companies SICAV, with approximately $1.2 billion in assets, is an internal pool for existing Genesis’ clients launched in 1999 and also regulated in Luxembourg. The fund’s objective is to achieve capital growth over the medium to long term, primarily through investment in equity securities of companies operating in emerging markets concentrating on companies with a market capitalisation of up to $600 million.
“BBH’s strong network management capability, experience in emerging markets, and client service model were important factors when selecting them to service these funds,” says Martyn Ryan, partner at Genesis.
Jeffrey Holland, BBH Partner, adds: “Our strategy is to work with a limited number of leading asset gatherers and empower them with the full capabilities of the firm globally to compete more effectively and deliver value to their investors. Genesis, as an emerging market specialist, is a classic example and we are delighted to be extending our relationship with them from Dublin to Luxembourg.”