Non-Government Schools Superannuation Fund announced Anthony Rodwell-Ball, a former general manager of finance and risk for AustralianSuper, as its new chief executive officer replacing Colin McGuinness who left late last year.
BT Financial Group announced it would remain an approved platform provider for Count Financial, Australia’s largest independently owned dealer group, for the next five years.
Citistreet became a victim of Citi’s global rationalisation, the State Street joint venture sold to ING for US$900 million.
Australian private equity group Ironbridge agreed to pay $273 million for listed admin and unit registry software provider Bravura Solutions, contingent on executives Iain Dunstan and Simon Woodfull rescuing their collective 30 per cent stake from the Lift Capital collapse. Alternative investment firms represent 40 per cent of all M&A deals in the global investment management industry thus far in 2008, a record level, according to research from Jefferies Putnam Lovell.
IFSA focus group research found consumers preferred product disclosure statements to be no more than 20 pages long, and to exclude ‘non-essential’ information such as fund switching rules and dispute resolution details.
Allowing shareholders to delay voting on resolutions put forward at an annual general meeting for up to two weeks after its close was a proposal put forward by Chartered Secretaries Australia and law firm Blake Dawson in a discussion paper.
Mercer Investment Consulting reported it ran 20 per cent more searches for alternative asset managers globally in 2007 than it did the previous year.
Westpac and St.George banks entered merger talks which could create a wealth management entity overseeing $108 billion. Ratings agencies universally said it was too early to take any action on Advance, Ascalon or BT funds.
Queensland Investment Corporation welcomed to its board Brad Bowton, a founding director of management consulting firm CACE Partners, and Lyn Gearing, a former CEO of Australia’s largest super fund, NSW State Super.
The Future Fund Management Agency had its responsibilities effectively doubled by the Federal Budget, which allocated a total $40 billion to new infrastructure, education and health sovereign investment funds. A Future Fund spokesman said it could be some time before the Guardians received an investment mandate for the new funds.
And I&T news exclusively reported…
Former State Street Global Advisers regional chief investment officer, Lochiel Crafter, is coming home to run the $19 billion Australian Reward Investment Alliance.
Lehman Brothers Asset Management shut down its management of fixed income and credit products from Australia, leading Equity Trustees to liquidate the EQT/Lehman High Income Fund, for which it was responsible entity, from May 20.
