The former head of Australian implemented equities at Queensland Investment Corporation, Martin McComish, has joined fellow QIC departees Stephen Cleugh and Julie Kincade at Charter Pacific Funds Management (CPFM).
Cleugh, the former head of global equities at QIC, said McComish would assist with the marketing of CPFM’s flagship Financial Services Fund on a full-time contract basis. The Financial Services Fund, which has just been seeded with $10 million from parent Charter Pacific Group, can invest in any of the 180 financial services-related stocks listed on the ASX, down to the microcap level. Its benchmark is the ASX 200 Financials (ex-LPTs), but 20 per cent of the fund can be invested outside that index, while shorting as well as positions in offshore financial services companies are permitted. The Fund targets a 3 per cent annual outperformance of its benchmark. Cleugh established CPFM last year alongside Julie Kincade, a former QIC senior equities dealer who oversaw development of QIC’s investment platform technology. Both are incentivised with Charter Pacific stock and a profit-sharing arrangement with the group. McComish left QIC last September following the merging of the Australian and international implemented equities teams into a global team. CPFM recently begun using White Outsourcing for fund administration, and retains UBS as custodian and prime broker. Cleugh said CPFM would launch further funds on an opportunistic basis, partly dependent on the talent it was able to attract to the firm.
Since taking over the top job at the $44 billion Funds SA more than a year ago, chief executive John Piteo has ushered in an investment function overhaul and wrapped up an important stage of the fund’s five-year data transformation program. It pledges to recentre around investment performance and more efficient processes, as the “missing piece” has been found in incoming CIO Con Michalakis.
Darcy SongJanuary 10, 2025
