Catholic Super has terminated an international equities mandate with Barclays Global Investors (BGI) in favour of three boutique managers.

Roughly $120 million managed by BGI has been split evenly between three offshore boutiques: Pzena Investment Management, a value manager based in New York; Generation Investment Management, a growth manger based in London; and Taube Hodson Stonex, a thematic, core-growth manager also from London. Bill Currey, investment officer at Catholic Super, said that there had been a trend towards boutique managers at the fund. “BGI haven’t done too badly, but we tend to prefer smaller boutiques to large firms,” he said. “[By investing with boutiques,] we are hoping to get better performance, despite the fact they may be a bit more expensive.” The funds are to manage international equities, and possibly some cash holdings, Currey said.