Neil Cochrane, the highly regarded chief executive of the REST industry super fund, is to become deputy chief executive and head of business development for Colonial First State from October.
Cochrane, who foreshadowed his move from REST earlier this year, will also chair Colonial’s property and infrastructure investment committees. The appointment is likely to signal an increased effort by the big funds manager to attract institutional mandates. Cochrane, who has been at REST for five years, will report to Colonial chief executive, Warwick Negus. He has worked at Colonial before – until the early 1990s – in a business development role. After Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, Cochrane returned to his native South Africa to work on the reconstruction phase of the country, before coming back to Australia. Cochrane was awarded the Fund Executive of the Year citation by the Fund Executives Association Ltd in 2005. He also sits on the ASFA board. In his new role, he will be responsible for all Colonial’s sales and communication globally.
Future Fund chief investment officer Ben Samild said that FY24 has been a great year for alpha creation, thanks to strong returns in equities and, unusually, across multiple hedge fund strategies all at the same time. He reflected the past few years have been “a difficult time to be an asset owner and to generate positive returns for risk assets” but the Future Fund is tracking well of its long-term mandate.
Simon Hoyle and Darcy SongSeptember 4, 2024
