Cape Town - Edge Investments, the independent multimanager which BoE is said to be eyeing, had grown funds under management to about R4,5 billion since it was launched about two years ago, Andrew Aitken, the managing director in charge of asset management, said last week.
BoE's private equity division, part of BoE Corporate, early this year bought out two directors at Edge, securing a smallish stake in the group.
Aitken declined to comment on talk that BoE had its sights on Edge, but said there were "a lot of opportunities in the market" and Edge was keen to grow assets and add value.
Edge, formed out of the financial services business of Springbok rugby coach Harry Viljoen - which Aitken joined following the merger of Norwich and Fedsure some two years ago - was strong on the asset management side, Aitken said.
It managed assets on behalf of financial services groups Fedsure, Standard Bank Unit Trusts, and Absa.
Edge, which did not have products of its own, had in the past focused on retail fund-of-funds, but Aitken said the emphasis had shifted to looking for growth from the employee benefits arena, in line with other multimanagers such as Escher Group.
The biggest multimanager in the country is Investment Solutions, with R35 billion in funds under management, followed by Escher Group which is believed to be wrapping up merger talks with m Cubed Capital Holdings.
A successful merger would considerably bulk up Escher Group's assets under management of R17,8 billion.
Edge's business offering includes fund-of-funds, wrap funds, pooled portfolios, high net worth individuals and multimanager structured funds.
Aitken expected the trend in the sector to be towards more guaranteed-orientated products, to take into account difficult and volatile market performances.
"There will be more emphasis on products with an element of downward protection," he said.
In response to speculation that BoE was eyeing Edge, BoE executives have said the financial services group was looking at a range of possibilities, either to supplement existing BoE businesses or to plug into new business niches.