Standard Life awards Ninety One £3bn emerging markets and Asia equity mandate

Standard Life has named Ninety One a core manager, awarding a £3bn mandate across Ninety One’s Emerging Markets Equity and Asia ex-Japan strategies, Standard Life said in a release dated 3 September. Standard Life plc, formerly Phoenix Group, describes itself as a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement saving and income; the operating insurer behind the brand, Phoenix Life Limited, trades as Standard Life.

The mandate is actively managed, giving core exposure to Asian and global emerging-market equities with balanced exposure to growth, quality, value and momentum styles through the cycle. Both strategies sit within Ninety One’s £25bn Emerging Markets Equity platform, and Ninety One managed £184bn in total as at 30 June 2026. Archie Hart and Varun Laijawalla co-manage Emerging Markets Equity; Wenchang Ma and Charlie Linton co-manage Asia Pacific ex-Japan.

Nuwan Goonetilleke, Standard Life’s interim group chief investment officer, said the appointment "reflects our commitment to selecting high-conviction investment managers where we believe they can enhance customer outcomes, while supporting a more streamlined and resilient investment platform". Hendrik du Toit, Ninety One’s founder and chief executive, said: "For long-term investors, emerging markets are not a peripheral allocation. They provide access to some of the most important structural growth opportunities in the global economy."