Austock Asset Management has hired an investment manager and an equities analyst for its Australian equities fund – both coming from broking houses.
According to Austock managing director Alan Sheen, the $380 million manager was “filling out our process” with the new recruits who started yesterday. The new investment manager is Stuart Larke, who has been at Goldman Sachs JBWere since 2000. His most recent position was as director/research analyst in the emerging companies research team. The new equities analyst is Wesley Nation, who was previously an equities research analyst with E. L. & C Baillieu Stockbroking. The hires bring Austock AM’s Australian equities team to five, headed by Silvio Gasparet. This asset class, however, is Austock AM’s smaller portfolio measured by funds under management. The Australian equities fund – which invests in 25 to 29 stocks from the top 200 Australian stocks – holds roughly $80 million of Austock AM’s $380 million, according to Sheen. The remaining $300 million is in the fixed income fund, a high yield portfolio investing in a mix of hybrids and convertibles, according to Sheen. The fixed income team is a duo with Doyle Mallet as head and Brad Bugg as senior analyst. Austock AM has just received its first rating from Standard & Poor’s – a three star recommendation for its fixed income fund.
The role of IFM Investors in arranging a visit by a delegation of Australian super funds to the US last month gives a pointer to the scale of the longer-term ambitions of the global super-fund-owned asset manager, and a recent investment in the manager by the UK pension fund NEST is designed to give it even greater clout. IFM chair Cath Bowtell tells Investment Magazine the manager aims to be a partner to governments around the world as they seek capital to build critical infrastructure.
Glenda KorporaalMarch 21, 2025
