UK fund manager Jupiter's new CEO looks abroad for growth

By Simon Jessop

LONDON (Reuters) - Jupiter Fund Management's (JUP.L) new chief executive Maarten Slendebroek plans to take one of Britain's best-known retail fund managers global, and expects investors outside its home market to one day account for "at least" half of the firm's business.

Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the Fund Forum conference in Monaco, Slendebroek said the move to expand into overseas markets was already going well, particularly in Asia.

Slendebroek was named as the replacement for Jupiter's long-serving chief executive Edward Bonham Carter in December though he first joined the company in September 2012, working as distribution and strategy director.

He previously spent 18 years at BlackRock (BLK.N), most recently as head of the international retail business.

"I think, if you take our asset base to date, it's probably 80/20, 85/15 domestic/international, but the growth will be at least 50/50 and possibly more international," he said.

"It must not be one at the expense of the other, the large bit will continue to grow, albeit quite slowly, and the international piece grows fast but from a lower base."

He said there was no reason the rough targets could not be reached within about five years but he would "always sacrifice growth for performance".

After joining when assets under management at the firm stood at around 25 billion pounds, he set a target to be able to manage 50 billion pounds in assets without sacrificing margin. The firm managed just over 32 billion pounds of assets at the end of March.

Of recent fund flows he said they had been "unbelievably steady. They stand out by their steadiness. I'd like to see the pace go up a little bit, as a result of the processes we've put in place, but isn't it a great place to be?

"We said about the first quarter we thought it'd be in line with the fourth quarter and it came out within a few million," Slendebroek said, adding that he expected the next quarter to show "a similar trend" and be steady to slightly higher.

While he would give more detail at Jupiter's interim results on July 30, he said the trends set in 2013 of increased business abroad and a "huge" contribution from fixed income were "pretty indicative" of its more recent growth.

"Those are, I think, pretty steady trends for us. That's a good thing as fixed income is a great diversifier for us, as we are a big equity house, and International is good as it's a different client base."

Slendebroek said the company's overseas expansion had so far taken in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong, and that, given the strong growth seen in the two Asian cities, further expansion in that region was likely next.

Meanwhile there was the prospect of a special dividend payout for investors.

"We've brought up our payout ratio on our dividend to 50 percent of our cash generation ... any additional cash we generate from organic growth will be given back to shareholders.

"The likely outcome is a special dividend, but there is also a scenario possible where there is a share buyback. Our shareholders, the ones I've spoken to, quite a few of them, seem to have a preference for a special dividend," he said.

With a regular payout of 50 percent, any excess cash over a small percentage, "10 percent or so", would be returned to investors.

"That gives you a different kind of firm. As a result of that we will not be acquisitive. We can still do acquisitions but only small ones. I think we'll be a better firm without acquisitions - that's not how I want to grow the firm," he said.

(Writing by Chris Vellacott; Editing by Greg Mahlich)