Johannesburg — INVESTEC Asset Management has increased assets under management 50% to a record £43,4bn by the end of last month.

The asset management firm's performance in the second half of its financial year so far, was significantly better than the first half of the financial year to March 31 last year.

Hendrik du Toit, CEO of the Investec group subsidiary, said yesterday the growth momentum remained in place to push assets under management to close to £50bn by year-end.

There had been net flows of more than £4,5bn across all the firms' distribution channels and across a broad range of investment capabilities, Du Toit said.

One of the reasons for the growth was rising asset prices as markets improved across the globe, but the success of the business model was not predicated on the strength of the markets at any one time, said Du Toit.

He said the company had also benefited from a stable performance, particularly through the financial crisis, because in the global asset management industry, "hedge fund heroes disappointed and many managers who people thought were stable had problems in their funds". Du Toit said clients had since the financial crisis become a lot more discriminating about where they invested, they had become more aware of risk and their level of due diligence was higher.

"Stability and the long-term approach is rewarded in this climate. It's a story of consistency," he said. The group had also benefited from a trend recently of investment portfolios becoming more globalised. Asset managers without multicross- border capabilities could not benefit from this trend. In addition, people were saving more.

Adding to the investment pool was a range of new regionally based investment vehicles, such as sovereign wealth funds, that had entered the upper end of the market where Investec Asset Management operates, said Du Toit.