Oxford Investment Partners Ltd (OXIP) is an independent fund management company which received authorisation from the FSA in March 2006. OXIP is solely focused on the specific objectives of charities, endowments and high net worth individuals.
Our offering represents a new approach for our clients. In the past, many endowments have held at least 80% of their portfolio in equities, often managed by a single fund manager. We believe that this level of concentration represents an unnecessary risk. In contrast, the OXIP fund is structured as a fund-of-funds, giving access to a broad range of talented underlying managers, specialising in different asset classes (including long/short, public and private equities, property, commodities, and all types of debt) and investing globally. In this way, we give our clients access to a much broader, diversified portfolio that should deliver more consistent returns over the long term accompanied by lower volatility.
Our fund is independent, we have no financial interest in any of our underlying managers, enabling us to select the best with complete freedom.
An alignment of interests
Our structure represents an innovative approach to managing endowments and charities. OXIP is jointly owned by the investment management team and the colleges themselves. The colleges are represented on the investment committee and have invested their money in the fund. In this way, the interests of all parties are aligned.
At launch, the fund managed assets for three colleges: St Catherine's College, Christ Church and Balliol (the "Colleges"). Now, other investors with similar underlying objectives are able to take advantage of the specialist, dedicated expertise at OXIP by investing in the fund.
A renowned investment team
OXIP was launched by Karl Sternberg, Paul Berriman and Paul Martin, a group of investment professionals with many years of experience. The foundations for the company were laid in 1994, when Karl Sternberg, then an investment professional at Deutsche Asset Management, began managing money on behalf of St Catherine's College Oxford. Over the years, Karl built strong relationships with this and other colleges and developed a deep understanding of their investment needs. This experience led to the development of OXIP, a new investment company that makes the requirements of clients its only focal point.
Executive directors Karl Sternberg and Paul Berriman, who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the fund, boast a wealth of investment experience. Meanwhile, investment consultant Watson Wyatt allow OXIP to benefit from a highly-experienced and well-resourced a team of over 80 professionals that provides research into different investment products and managers. Watson Wyatt undertake initial screening and due diligence, leaving OXIP's investment committee free to concentrate on the fund's asset allocation strategy and individual manager selection.
OXIP and its clients benefit from the expertise of two of Watson Wyatt's most senior investment researchers, Craig Baker and Alasdair MacDonald, whose research provides a vital input into the fund's strategy. Meanwhile, former Chief Economist at Goldman Sacks, Gavyn Davies, provides a valuable perspective on macroeconomic issues.
Our investment professionals pursue a rigorous and structured process in terms of portfolio construction. Investment decisions are taken jointly by the members of the Investment Committee, which determines asset allocation, individual manager selection, and risk.
Exposure to talented and skilled managers, rather than asset allocation considerations, remains OXIP's primary focus. The Investment Committee is unlikely to act on the basis of short-term factors and will instead focus on the long term.
We will never invest in an underlying fund unless we understand the manager's processes, objectives, strengths and weaknesses. When considering the inclusion of a new manager, OXIP asks Watson Wyatt to undertake initial due diligence and screening. OXIP meanwhile conducts separate due diligence, meeting each short-listed manager face-to-face, and gaining a detailed understanding of their style, process and approach.
Because no one manager can be guaranteed to outperform in all market conditions, we ensure that our fund is well diversified by manager as well as by underlying asset or market. By holding a balance of different managers with different styles, we aim to reduce the portfolio's overall risk and achieve more consistent performance, whatever the economic backdrop.
Craig Baker, Watson Wyatt
Craig Baker is a senior investment consultant and head of Watson Wyatt's manager research team in Europe. He is Chairman of the European Manager Steering Group and one of the three members of Watson Wyatt's Global Manager Group, which is responsible for ensuring consistency in Watson Wyatt's manager research and selection approaches around the world.
Alasdair MacDonald, Watson Wyatt
Alasdair is a senior investment consultant at Watson Wyatt advising institutional investors on their investment strategies. His clients include some of the largest UK defined benefit pension funds, as well as defined contribution schemes, insurance companies and endowments.
To ensure our interests are always aligned with those of the Colleges we act on behalf of, our board includes representation from all three founding colleges, and Fram Dinshaw sits on the Investment Committee.
Fram Dinshaw, Risk Adviser
Fram Dinshaw is the Finance Bursar of St Catherine's college in Oxford, where he has been a Fellow since 1979. He has been Bursar of St Catherine's College since 1984, taking responsibility for the college's endowment by appointing external professional fund managers. In working with OXIP, Fram will the guardian of our clients' best interests. Fram does not have a stake in the business and therefore acts solely for the benefit of the Colleges.
The wealth of investment experience at OXIP is supplemented by specialist global investment expertise.
Gavyn Davies, Investment Adviser
Gavyn Davies is well known in the investment industry, having previously been Chief Economist at Goldman Sachs and Chairman of the Board of Governors at the BBC. He is an adviser to the Investment Committee and draws on his vast experience and wide range of skills to inform the decision making process.
Karl Sternberg, Executive Director
Before establishing OXIP, Karl was Chief Investment Officer of Deutsche Asset Management, one of the largest fund management companies in the world. He was responsible for the investment professionals, structure, and investment processes outside the United States, including overseeing 150 fund managers, covering all of the major asset classes.
Paul Berriman, Executive Director
Before joining OXIP, Paul was the Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Asset Management in the UK with responsibility for the management of over £50bn of assets for pension funds, endowments, charities and high net worth individuals.
Paul Martin, Chief Operating Officer
Prior to joining OXIP, Paul served as Business Manager on the management committee of DWS Investments UK, the former retail arm of Deutsche Asset Management UK. At DWS Paul was responsible for strategy formulation and implementation, financial planning and budgeting, operational efficiency, outsourcing of non-core functions and project management.
In addition, the fund benefits from the experience of Peter Wolton and William Bourne, who act as business development consultants. Peter's prior roles include CEO of Baring's Investment Management Group and he serves on a number of charity committees. William's prior roles include Managing Director at Zurich Scudder Investments Japan and Head of Strategy at Threadneedle Investments.
Manager
Oxford Investment Partners Limited
Chairman, The Right Honourable The Lord (Nigel) Lawson of Blaby
Lord Lawson of Blaby was the Chancellor of the Exchequer between June 1983 and October 1989. Until surpassed recently by Gordon Brown, his tenure in this office was longer than that of any of his predecessors since David Lloyd George. Lord Lawson was previously City Editor of the Sunday Telegraph and editor of the Spectator before becoming the Member of Parliament for Blaby in Leicestershire in 1974, a position he held until resigning at the 1992 General Election. He currently serves on several distinguished boards.
Board of the Manager
Karl Sternberg (Executive Director)
Paul Berriman (Executive Director)
Paul Martin (Executive Director)
Fram Dinshaw (Non-Executive Director, Bursar of St Catherine's College)
James Lawrie (Non-Executive Director, Treasurer of Christ Church College)
Richard Collier (Non-Executive Director, Bursar of Balliol College)
Stephen Curran (Non-Executive Director)
General Partner
OIP (Scotland) Limited
Administrator
State Street Trustees Limited, Guild House, Guild Street, IFSC, Dublin 1
Investment Advisor
Watson Wyatt Limited, Watson House, London Road, Reigate, Surrey RH2 9PQ
OXIP is 60% owned by Balliol, Christ Church and St Catherine's College and 40% owned by the Management.
The founding colleges are represented by their Finance Bursars on the Board and by Fram Dinshaw on the Investment Committee. This ensures that they have a clearly defined voice at all levels. In addition, when it comes to major corporate issues, formal procedures dictate that 70% of both classes of shares (Management and Colleges) must be in agreement.
On a day-to-day basis, the equity split of 40% for Management and 60% for Colleges means that Management must have the support of the Colleges. The structure ensures that the interests of both the Colleges and the Management are fairly represented at all times.
Critical decisions such as admissions of other colleges or institutions or further staff or any corporate action involve all parties. The guiding principle for the creation of OXIP has been and continues to be the "alignment of interests".
We believe that OXIP represents a rewarding opportunity for endowments, charities and high net worth investors. The combination of our management team's proven investment expertise and Watson Wyatt's unrivalled research resources represents a compelling proposition.
Throughout the investment industry, fund-of-fund schemes are increasingly popular. However, in order to deliver investment returns to clients, a fund-of-funds must avoid undue layering of fees and must provide access to an investment portfolio which clients could not achieve independently. At OXIP, we not only aim to achieve these goals, but our approach also offers clients the benefits of diversification and risk control. We constantly review the entire universe of funds, selecting best-of-breed managers for inclusion in our portfolio. Through holding a mix of different asset classes, we provide our clients with a truly diversified portfolio that aims to maximise returns while managing the risk.
The fact that the colleges themselves form part of our ownership structure makes our offering even more powerful.