Andrew Spence, former principal and senior consultant at Watson Wyatt, has fulfilled his desire to return to funds management.
Spence will move to Brisbane to join Hyperion Asset Management as a senior portfolio manager. Spence, who announced his resignation from Watson Wyatt last week, applied for an advertised position with Hyperion last month and will start at the end of July. He said he was looking forward to returning to hands-on funds management. “;I’m very excited about the new opportunity. Hyperion is a firm I know well from researching them and from working with [managing director] Manny Pohl at Westpac Investment Management,”; Spence said. Prior to joining Watson Wyatt Spence worked at Westpac Investment Management (1989-1995) and then Credit Suisse Asset Management (1995-2004). Hyperion created the senior position in expectation of further growth in funds under management in new business areas. It currently has $1.5 billion under management in broad market equities but any future growth is likely to be in other areas of business such as a large cap high conviction option. “He brings a lot of skills and a lot of the right personal qualities,” Tim Samway, Hyperion institutional business director, said. In addition to portfolio management, Spence will also have some client contact responsibilities. “;There are two things I’m really passionate about. One is managing money and the other is managing client relationships,”; Spence said.
The $34 billion Brighter Super is set to shift around $10 billion of assets from passive to active management. Chief investment officer Mark Rider says the move is possible because of 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
