Auscoal, the $5.1 billion industry fund, is reviewing its asset consultant amid plans for the fund to build its internal investment team.

Jennifer McSpadden, marketing manager at Auscoal, said that the internally-conducted review was part of Auscoal’s standard procedure of reassessing its long-term asset consultant every few years, but that the fund was also looking to bolster its internal capabilities. Watson Wyatt has been assisting Auscoal (or its predecessor funds) for the past seven years. I&T News understands that competing asset consultant, Mercer IC, is a strong contender in the review. Mercer IC was a consultant to one of AusCoal’s predecessor funds before a merger of the NSW and Queensland coal industry funds created AusCoal in 2004. It is understood Watson Wyatt has never lost a client to another advisory consultant over 25 years of operating in Australia.