State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has amassed $US10 billion under management worldwide for its range of 130/30 funds marketed under the ‘Edge’ banner, three-and-a-half years since its first ever short-extension fund was launched in Sydney.
The range of Edge strategies recently reached 14 with the launch of Global Alpha Select Edge and World Index Plus Edge. The managing director of global equities for SSgA, Arlene Rockefeller, said the Edge funds had proved a popular compromise between moderate risk/moderate value-add long-only strategies and high-risk hedge funds, because they allowed a limited amount of shorting to take advantage of negative viewpoints in the stock-ranking process, but then provided additional capital for long positions of the same magnitude so that 100 per cent benchmark exposure was maintained.
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
