Dublin-based PI Investment Management is close to being awarded a licence to operate in the US and is looking at entering other jurisdictions, the company's managing director, Rory MacIntyre, said yesterday.
Mr MacIntyre was speaking after the publication of results for PI's Australian parent company, Perpetual Trustees. The company posted operating profits of €69.3 million for the year to the end of June, up 27 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Profits after tax grew by 32 per cent to €74.2 million, while total funds under management increased by 23 per cent to €16.6 billion.
Perpetual's managing director, David Deverall, said the growth had been underpinned by "strong underlying markets, the continued award-winning investment performance of fund management teams and healthy inflows across all group businesses".
Mr MacIntyre pointed to the establishment of PI's global equities business in Dublin in February as a highlight for the year.
"Building new growth engines has been a key objective of the group's strategy," he said.
MacIntyre said 2006 should be "a year of good opportunity and solid development" for the company. So far, MacIntyre's team, which was largely drawn from Bank of Ireland Asset Management, has won three mandates.
This business - from Irish Life, Australia-based van Eyk and another Australian institution - comes in addition to the management of about €1.3 billion transferred to Dublin by Perpetual when PI was set up.
Mr MacIntyre described the build-up of business as a "slow burn", adding that the company continues to speak to trustees, asset consultants and pension fund managements in the UK and the Republic.
A US licence will also allow the firm to pitch for business there, he said.
"It shouldn't be too long - we're quite close to getting all the paperwork," Mr MacIntyre said.
Perpetual did not provide a breakdown of the Dublin operation's performance yesterday, but has said it expects PI to break even over the course of 2007.
