JANA Investment Advisers has drawn on three global equity strategies from a US manager to build a ‘special strategies’ portfolio.
The consultant has teamed with Wellington Management to supply the portfolio to the Australian institutional market. The strategies, which predominantly cover equities, employ an unconstrained approach and are limited in capacity. The strategies are: global contrarian equity, targeting stocks perceived as misunderstood or overlooked by the market; ‘special’ equity, aiming to find stocks that will yield better than expected multiple expansion; and technical equity, which applies technical analysis to markets. “We expect it to be invested 100 per cent in equities most of the time,” John Coombe, JANA executive director, said. The product takes a net-long approach to a global universe, covering listed and unlisted markets in all regions, sectors, styles and market caps. It does not compete against a benchmark but aims to outperform the MSCI World Index over five and seven-year periods. The portfolio will be rebalanced annually. At this time, none of the underlying investment approaches should account for 50 per cent of the portfolio. Investors will be charged a 1 per cent management expense ratio. JANA and Wellington have cooperated in the past to manage money for institutional investors. “We’ve had money with Wellington for 10 years,” Coombe said.
There is one investment area where Insignia’s $180 billion super arm has not lost money for the past 17 years, which is what it calls the insurance-related investments. The alternatives strategy is gaining popularity among asset owners due to its diversification benefit, but Insignia’s super and asset management investment chief Dan Farmer warns it is a space where investors can suffer if they “stumble in without doing the homework”.
Darcy SongJanuary 23, 2025
