Industry Funds Management (IFM) is preparing to launch its new active equities strategy early in 2007 and wants two new investment managers to assist senior investment manager – listed equities, Clyde Haldane.

The new strategy will be managed within IFM and will employ a quant screen. It will be fairly concentrated with holdings of 20 to 25 stocks, and Haldane said it would have relatively low turnover. “It will be a small tight portfolio with a long term focus…We’ll be owning our stocks not renting them,” he said. IFM currently manages $1.7 billion in indexed and enhanced indexed strategies but has been considering launching an active equities strategy for nearly two years. Haldane was brought on board last May and is currently in the process of recruiting two analysts for the strategy. IFM index fund managers Aidan Puddy and Tony Richard-Preston will also assist in analysing data. “We’ll be slicing and dicing the data in a way that’s quite unique,” Haldane said. Stock selection will be important but Haldane points out that just by holding a stock for more than a year, capital gains tax can be reduced from 15 per cent to 10 per cent. “That adds a lot to your portfolio,” he said.