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Quantitative Investment Firm Launches in Christchurch

Quantitative Investment Firm Comes Out of Stealth And Launches in Christchurch

Avon River is a quantitative investment firm at the intersection of technology and finance.

Christchurch, NZ / Wednesday 21st, August 2019 - Avon River today announces the launch of its quantitative investment fund, headquartered in Christchurch, New Zealand. The firm which has been in stealth mode for the last 6 months, already invests its own capital and is currently in talks to raise a larger fund (often referred to as a Hedge Fund).

Avon River focuses on an investment approach known as quantitative “quant” whereby it deploys a range of technology and proprietary models to make predictions on markets and assets, then uses these signals to actively invest and trade, with the goal of producing superior investment returns.

Initially, the firm is only open to institutional and wholesale investors, of which it is currently in talks with a variety of firms, family offices and high net worth individuals across the country.

“After a huge amount of work, it’s exciting to finally be opening up to the NZ investor ecosystem. We think we bring something special and unique to the table, that will help NZ investors further diversify their portfolios.” - Scott Barrington CEO

The firm is currently uniquely positioned in the New Zealand market where most investment firms currently take a more traditional approached to investment management, using analysts and discretionary managers to oversee portfolios.

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In contrast to this, Avon River strictly adheres to computer models for all stages of the investment process, from analysis to trade execution. The company sees itself as a “full-stack” technology firm, and currently builds and deploys a range of its own proprietary tools, and expects this Research and Development first approach to only increase.

“I feel that in order to grow the wealth of New Zealand long term, we need to diversify more into other assets classes locally and overseas, rather than just buying and selling houses to each other. I hope Avon River is a further step in this direction. ” - Scott Barrington CEO

The firm’s founder, Scott Barrington says technology and investment have always been a passion for him (“I like to figure out how things work”). After 6 years in Silicon Valley (San Francisco, Bay Area) running a previous startup, Scott returned to his home town of Christchurch in 2018. Scott’s long term vision for Avon River is to build something accessible to all New Zealanders and he sees the fund’s initial launch with institutional investors as a step in that direction.

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