Peter Mitchell

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Peter Mitchell is founder and managing partner of Kings Gate Capital Partners, a capital-raising and fund-placement firm based in Australia with focus in Australia/New Zealand and A-Pac. With over 25 years of experience in the investment management industry in both North America and Asia-Pacific, Peter has built a deep and diverse network of allocators and influencers across the institutional, mid-market, family office, and retail channels.

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A native of Canada, Peter secured an undergrad in criminology before moving to New Zealand, and then on to Sydney, where he received a master’s degree in finance. He took his education, moved to New York, and began his career as a sales trader before accepting a senior sales role at American Express Asset Management (now Columbia-Thread Needle) in Minneapolis. Five years later, Peter moved back to Australia having accepted a position with BT Investment Management (Pendal Asset Management), one of the largest investment managers in the market. At BTIM, Peter was responsible for institutional business, raising capital from large institutions before leaving to head up distribution at State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) in Australia, overseeing institutional, retail, ETFs, client services, as well as sitting on the A-Pac executive committee.

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In 2018, Peter took his skills, expertise, and insight, cultivated over more than two decades, and founded a company built upon his own ethos of “being part of the solution, and not the problem.” Under his leadership, KGCP took off, raising in excess of $1 billion for their clients in just two years since opening its doors. We sat down with Peter to learn more about his mantra, his company, and the creation of a unique distribution model designed to gain greater access, catering to the specific needs of allocators.

 

Tell us how your mantra of “being part of the solution, not the problem” guides KGCP and your fundamental approach to clients.

 

This ethos has been critical to our success. While the theory is simple, executing is always the most difficult. Working with allocators to better understand their destination point and the success matrix attached to that, puts KGCP in pole position to not only select best-in-class managers from around the world, but, more importantly, in an arena where we are best suited to win. This underlying philosophy and approach allow the entire team, from the advisory board to the distribution team, to move the narrative from selling a product to being engaged in the success of our clients. This belief forms the foundation and the reason for creating Kings Gate Capital Partners. The goal, then as it is now, is build a firm with individuals that embody this belief and insight, who share knowledge, experience, and relationships to create real value for those clients who allocate to our managers and those managers who hire us.

 

The Australian pension market is projected to be the second largest in the world in the next 10 years. Why was this a major consideration in building your advisory board and distribution team?

 

The Australian pension market is $3 trillion in size and the fastest-growing market of its kind in the world. By 2030, it’s estimated to be approximately $10 trillion, making it the second-largest pension market in the world, behind the U.S. Exponential growth of this kind brings greater regulatory change, scrutiny and oversight, and, therefore, consolidation in certain channels while expansion in others. It’s critical our team understand this dynamic landscape and its implications for all our clients, which is why selecting an experienced, connected, and knowledgeable advisory board was crucial. The superannuation and advisory markets in Australia / New Zealand are incredibly sophisticated in their structure and sizing. Each channel and each client drive success differently, so building a distribution team that understands this has, in many ways, been more difficult than building an advisory board, given our distribution strategy is unique. Our goal is to continue to grow strategically by building an advisory board and distribution team with professionals that meet the experience and deep relationships the marketplace demands, but also the technical skill set required to match the best in class, innovative strategies allocators want to discuss.

 

What makes not only your distribution strategy, but the culture of KGCP, unique?

 

Each sales professional traverses multiple channels where their experience, success, and strong relationships already exist versus the industry’s current model of siloed verticals. To keep marketing a product into a single channel where no one is allocating or there are no learnings to be had can be soul destroying, yet you continue to do it because that’s your role. As founder and managing partner, I felt it was incumbent on our organization to provide our team with an environment and opportunity set where they can be the best they can possibly be, at the same time, helping them become invaluable to the clients they speak to.

 

With respect to our distribution model, it was the early years I spent at AEAM which taught me a great deal about needing to understand exactly what, why and who was driving an allocation which can be different then the decision tree itself. Essentially, understanding the governance of an organization is mission critical, as you can have a corporate fund and a public fund invest in an identical strategy, but for completely different reasons. I developed this focus into my years at BTIM and SSGA to create a distribution strategy that promotes greater dialogue with the allocator via multiple touchpoints, deeper understanding of key channel issues and drivers, and a more flexible platform for a salesperson, and, by proxy, the entire team, to remain engaged with the allocator throughout the entire sales process. All this combined allows us to come to market as a singular moving force, which in turn, provides a broader, deeper, and a more collaborative narrative with all industry participants.

 

Let’s end with a personal question. What do you enjoy most about your work?

 

Starting Kings Gate Capital Partners has been a terrific opportunity to build a team of people who are entrepreneurial, competitive, and driven to be the best they can be. Being surrounded by individuals who operate with these values is incredibly motivating. This experience has been priceless, enjoyable, yet at times challenging and above all, remains constantly rewarding.

 

Contact:

Peter Mitchell

Managing Partner

Kings Gate Capital Partners

2 Bligh Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000 Australia

website: www.kingsgatecap.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-mitchell-kingsgatecapital/