Company Updates
Lighthouse Canton bolsters asset management capabilities as it scales up
The global investment institution has been actively strengthening its capabilities through new hires and external partnerships.
The firm has seen demand rise for its responsible, diversified investment strategies and has ramped up activity over the past year
Several new hires including new Head of Global Institutional Sales, Anselmo Park (previously MFS Investment Management) and Director, Venture Debt, Ankit Agrawal (ex-International Finance Corporation)
SINGAPORE (Monday, 18 April 2022) Over the past year, Lighthouse Canton has been rapidly scaling up its operations globally to meet investor demand and capture new business. According to Boston Consulting Group’s Global Asset Management 2021 report, the asset management industry saw an 11% increase in assets over the past year, with Asia seeing an 11% growth in Assets under Management (AuM) just shy of 1% that of North America’s 12% growth. Overall, institutional investments accounted for $61 trillion or 59% of the global market.
Demand for strategies in alternatives and private equity have also risen in tandem. Such strategies have proven resilient in today’s challenging markets and are poised to also bring capital and growth to economies that have been affected by the pandemic.
Over the last few years, Lighthouse Canton has carved a niche for itself in the asset management industry in both private and public market strategies. The strategies are supported by a strong in-house team of experts and robust partnerships. On the private side, Lighthouse Canton offers various Asia-specific regional strategies including life sciences real estate, supply chain financing, venture equity and venture debt. While on the public side, Lighthouse Canton is managing a focused mid and small cap India equity strategy and a macro hedge fund. These strategies have seen the firm’s AuM rise significantly over the past year, from $1.3 billion at the start of 2021 to crossing $3 billion towards the end of 2021.
The firm’s life sciences real estate strategy hit headlines last year as it announced its partnership with Ivanhoe Cambridge, the real estate investment arm of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers, to co-invest in a life science R&D office-labs portfolio in Genome Valley in Hyderabad, India. To capitalize on the flourishing private investments opportunities in the markets that the firm operates in, it began to build its venture capital (VC) and private equities capabilities early in 2021. Since then, it has successfully launched a VC strategy in partnership with Delhi based Nueva Capital to form LC Nueva Investment Partners, announcing a first close on the $40m LC Nueva Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) focused on pre-series A and series A deals in India.
With these achievements under its belt, Lighthouse Canton continues to bolster its operations with two new hires, namely Anselmo Park as Head of Global Institutional Sales and Ankit Agrawal as Director, Venture Debt.
“Lighthouse Canton is able to offer unique expertise to global investors today and we are looking to expand our platform as the regional investment opportunity set is evolving”, commented global Head of Asset Management, Sanket Sinha. “Anselmo and Ankit bring a wealth of experience to the team in the sectors we are focused on, and we see this as just the beginning of the growth of our team.”
Anselmo’s team will be responsible for managing global institutional investors for Lighthouse Canton’s private and public market strategies. Prior to joining Lighthouse Canton, Anselmo has spent over 20 years in the industry primarily on regional institutional sales and client relationship management roles at MFS Investment Management, Mirae Asset Global Investments and Citibank.
“I look forward to presenting Lighthouse Canton’s innovative investment platform to global institutional investors. Taking a partnership approach, we aim to help our clients diversify and enhance their portfolio profiles with access to asset classes and markets that are often tricky to invest in.” said Anselmo.
As the team looks to attract more institutional capital through its niche strategies, Ankit will be focused on enhancing the firm’s venture debt capabilities. Lighthouse Canton plans on launching a venture debt strategy soon to provide its international investors access to venture debt investments across markets such as India and South East Asia. Ankit’s brings to the firm over 10 years of experience across equity and debt investments as well as management consulting. He has previously held roles at International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the World Bank Group; GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of the Government of Singapore; the Piramal Group and PwC.
“Venture Debt in India and South East Asia is at an inflection point as it presents an attractive risk-reward profile to the investors who seek to benefit from the fast growing startup ecosystem in the region. I am excited about building this business at Lighthouse Canton as this product complements the firm’s other offerings to the startups and to the founders, thereby placing us in a good spot to be the preferred debt partners for successful startups.”, added Ankit.
Lighthouse Canton provides wealth and asset management services to regional and international investors from its offices in Singapore, Dubai and India. Its asset management business invests on behalf of accredited investors, including private clients, family offices and some of the world's largest institutional investors, such as pension funds, sovereign funds, and insurance companies, to drive economic and sustainable impact. While the wealth management part of the business provides corporates, single family offices and U/HNW clients tailored execution, investing and advisory capabilities for their treasury, business & family office requirements.
Leveraging its asset management and wealth management business capabilities, Lighthouse Canton’s Founders’ Ecosystem provides founders added value through other venture investments, and business solutions as well as personal wealth management services. From providing capital and strategic insights through their early-stage and growth phases, through to mentorship and providing operational and management support as they seek further funding and prepare for exit rounds; the firm is committed to helping these companies and their founders enhance performance and plan for their personal and business legacies.
