Caledonia culls a custodian

Private client fund manager Caledonia Investments Group has rationalised its custody arrangements after having had two separate custodians for unit trusts and individually managed accounts since it opened over 10 years ago.

National Custodian Services has lost the custody business of Caledonia’s three unit trusts – worth about one-third of the manager’s total $3.5 billion under management, according to Caledonia director and chief operating officer Bernard Stanton. UBS will pick up the unit trust business, adding to its responsibility as custodian for Caledonia’s IMA’s. Stanton said there was no problem with National’s service, but Caledonia decided it wanted to deal with just one custodian. “We wouldn’t want anyone to think NAB hadn’t done a great job. All we’re trying to do is simplify the business to deal with one custodian,” Stanton said, adding the split arrangement had been a legacy issue. UBS was selected over National because the bulk of investments – roughly two-thirds – was already with it, while its perceived global presence was also an advantage. Stanton said with Caledonia increasingly doing more business offshore, and UBS having a global footprint, “it had to be one or the other, so it just made sense to go with the one with the global footprint”. Caledonia predominantly invests in listed Australian companies but, according to its website, it has recently been selectively acquiring shares in a small number of international companies to add to the portfolio, generally in sectors where there is already existing expertise in the Sydney-based investment team.