Towers Watson takes manager OXIP under its wing

Consultants Towers Watson has announced that it will buy Oxford Investment Partners (OXIP) for an undisclosed sum, in a deal which will expand its investment execution capabilities and boost its position in fiduciary management.

OXIP was founded by a group of Oxford colleges and Karl Sternberg and Paul Berriman. The latter two were respectively former CIO and former CEO of Deutsche Asset Management. OXIP currently manages over $1 billion for investors, and recently launched a diversified growth fund for defined contribution pension funds, which gives exposure to strategies such as hedge funds, commodities, re-insurance and property.

Towers Watson EMEA head of investment Chris Ford said: “We are always looking to respond to the changing needs of our clients and bringing OXIP into Towers Watson is another such example. In doing so, we are meeting the need of clients to gain access to a spread of best-in-class managers across a diverse range of asset classes, but in a simple and cost-effective way. We have been the sole investment advisor to OXIP, and a member of its investment committee, since its establishment in 2006.”

Sternberg said: “We are delighted to be joining Towers Watson as the logical next step in a long and close relationship. We will continue to focus on the business of achieving optimal risk-adjusted returns from a diversified portfolio of assets; something we have not wavered from since we started doing so for a group of Oxford colleges in 2006.”