Apostle Asset Management is transitioning administration and custody for its five Australian-domiciled funds and $6 billion under management to a new provider, and has contracted Deon Joubert, former boss of the winding-up Absolute Capital, to a compliance role.
Custody’s for Apostle’s funds had been run out of Luxembourg by Brown Brothers Harriman, which has a global custody relationship with Apostle’s previous owner, Natixis Global Associates. Administration functions such as registry and reporting were performed locally for Apostle by BNP Paribas Securities Services. Managing director of Apostle, Karyn West, said BBH’s Luxembourg location had been “;very hard for us”;, and that last year’s management buy-out meant the Australian business was no longer compelled to use that custodian. Drew Vaughan was contracted to run a full custody and administration tender, which has resulted in all the outsourced functions currently being transitioned to State Street Investor Services. State Street IS has a global relationship with fixed income manager Loomis Sayles, for whom Apostle distributes a global bond fund and a credit opportunities fund in Australia. Meanwhile, Deon Joubert has been contracted to an “;all-rounder”; range of responsibilities, which West said was helping ease the burden of extra post-MBO responsibilities on the group. Joubert was a non-executive director of Natixis Australia prior to the MBO, a role no longer required now that the group is Australian-owned. Part of his current role is providing information to Apostle’s compliance committee, West said.
Future Fund chief investment officer Ben Samild said that FY24 has been a great year for alpha creation, thanks to strong returns in equities and, unusually, across multiple hedge fund strategies all at the same time. He reflected the past few years have been “a difficult time to be an asset owner and to generate positive returns for risk assets” but the Future Fund is tracking well of its long-term mandate.
Simon Hoyle and Darcy SongSeptember 4, 2024
