Mercer Global Investments (MGI) has redeemed Australian small cap equities mandates with two big institutions in preference for boutique managers.
MGI’s $12 billion multi-manager fund has culled Colonial First State (CFS) and Grantham, Mayo and van Otterloo (GMO) from its Australian small cap shares portfolio and assigned boutiques Northcape and Kosmos in their place. Adam Smith Asset Management, the remaining Australian small cap equities manager in Mercer’s portfolio, retained its mandate. While Adam Smith is a value manager, both Northcape and Kosmos run core/growth manadates for MGI. Kosmos was founded in January by two ex-CFS senior portfolio managers, Anthony Vourdanos and Tom Plodr. MGI’s redemption of its small caps mandate with the duo’s former shop and subsequent funding of Kosmos echoed the recent moves of two super funds for maritime workers, the Stevedoring Employees Retirement Fund and Seafarers Retirement Fund, which withdrew small-caps money from CFS and funded Kosmos in August.
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
