RBC Dexia Investor Services is competing to keep its largest Australian client, as the $34 billion Perpetual Investments undergoes a tender process for its custodian and fund administration contracts.
Service providers participating in the tender have indicated it is being run by CSTIM, the backoffice consultancy of which Phillip Hope, a former head of operations at Perpetual, is Australian co-founder. RBC purchased the Perpetual backoffice in 2002, although the manager is understood to still perform some unit registry functions in-house. A Perpetual spokesperson said CSTIM had been conducting an “;administrative review”; of the manager over several months. Perpetual representatives were yesterday unavailable for comment on the current status of the tender, although it is understood to have reached short-list stage.
The $34 billion Brighter Super is set to shift a significant proportion of equities assets in MySuper from passive to active management. Chief investment officer Mark Rider says the move is possible because of the scale created by mergers, and the fund will be looking to its newly appointed active managers to generate performance through the cycle by taking idiosyncratic risks.
Darcy SongJanuary 21, 2025
