Nikko Asset Management (Nikko AM) has acquired a minority stake in ARK Investment Management (ARK) and will now offer ARK products and investment strategies in Japan and the Asia Pacific region.
ARK has served as a sub-advisor to Nikko AM’s Global Fintech Equity Fund, launched in Japan in December 2016 with total assets of over JPY75 billion as of July 2017.
“We are extremely excited to welcome ARK to the Nikko AM family. The established expertise of our in-house investment team combined with ARK’s strategies focused on disruptive technology and innovation enable progressive solutions for our clients. Our Global Fintech Equity Fund is an example of the success we have already achieved together, and we are confident of more to come with this deepening of the connection,” says Nikko Asset Management President & CEO Takumi Shibata.
ARK is a US-based investment manager that utilises an open research ecosystem to develop insights into disruptive innovation. Its analysts are organised by disruptive innovation themes that span sectors, geographies, and market capitalisations. ARK derives alpha by investing in leaders, enablers, and beneficiaries of disruptive technologies, with low overlap to broad-market indices. The firm has launched five ETFs, including four active ETFs, investing in themes such as Deep Learning and Mobility-as-a-Service. In addition, ARK has established an investment advisory service for institutional clients which utilises ARK’s innovative strategies to diversify portfolios.
“We are honoured and delighted that Nikko AM has cemented our partnership with an ownership interest in ARK,” says ARK CEO & Chief Investment Officer Catherine D Wood (pictured). “Nikko AM’s appetite for innovation focused investment solutions is well aligned with ARK’s conviction that innovation is key to growth. An entirely new market of investors will benefit now from Nikko AM’s ability to deliver disruptive innovation, which is transforming both industries and the global economy, through ARK’s investment strategies.“
