History

Optimal Fund Management Pty Limited is an independent investment manager that focuses on providing the best possible return to investors. The company was established in 1999 by Warwick Johnson who wanted to use his expertise and experience to provide investors with a niche opportunity to invest in the Japanese stockmarket and capitalise on what he correctly identified as a major turnaround.

Until 2003, Optimal focused exclusively on the Japanese market but in that year the decision was taken to expand coverage to include other markets in Asia. The Optimal investment team has been expanded over the past decade and has vast experience in both the Japanese and Asian equities markets. The investment team is based in Sydney and is supported by analysts in Japan and India. Being located in the Asian time-zone enables Optimal’s team to maximise the benefits of real time investment opportunities in the Japanese and Asia Pacific markets. Details of the team's academic and professional backgrounds are included in our team profile.

Optimal takes an active approach to investing and, where agreed in the investment mandate, uses a variety of techniques to hedge the investments from downturns such as selling short stocks which it has identified as being over-priced and having poor prospects. Success is measured by achieving increases in an investor’s net assets, rather than by solely beating a stock index benchmark. A major objective is to preserve gains when market conditions worsen. Optimal uses the same philosophy whether investing in the Japanese or Asia Pacific markets.

Optimal is determined to provide clients with direct personal access to the investment managers responsible for their portfolios that larger organisations cannot match.

To summarise, Optimal's strength lies in its:

• Investment driven business approach
• Specialisation
• Expertise
• Client relationships