Chicago fund opens Sydney office; hires lead

GCM Grosvenor, the US$74 billion alternatives asset manager, has opened a Sydney office and appointed Andy Lukas to lead the firm's push into the region.

The Chicago-based alternative asset manager - which focuses on hedge funds, private equity, infrastructure, and real estate - plans to grow its efforts by targeting the deployment of Australian capital into global alternative markets.

"In Australia, we plan to increase our focus on family offices, the wholesale and retail markets, and local superannuations offering both specialised fund solutions, as well as customised fund capabilities and strategic partnerships that have been used effectively by GCM in other parts of the Asia Pacific region for over 25 years," said Lukas.

He noted that Australian Super and Aware Super are upping their staff in both London and or New York to deploy capital into European and North American private markets, so there is certainly an appetite for increased alternative exposure.

Lukas is best known for his 12-year stint at HSBC as director of institutional sales, where he focused on sales and distribution to super funds, banks and asset managers.

Before that,  he worked for Deutsche Asset Management and Westpac.

GCM is the second Chicago firm to establish an Australian office this month.

Chicago-based Adams Street set up shop here after seeing strong growth from the Asia Pacific, with institutional investors private wealth, and high-net-worth investors increasingly looking at private markets.