A shift in allocations to global equities managers was the latest move by the statutory fund of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSW ALC) as it unbundles its terminated investment mandate with Chifley Financial Services and assumes control of its assets.
The most recent change in the $600 million fund was the redemption of $10 million from a global equities trust being wound-down by BNY Mellon Asset Management, and subsequent investment into an Altrinsic Global Advisors global equities fund.
The investment in the BNY Mellon trust was a legacy from the comprehensive mandate that Chifley ran for the fund until October last year, when the NSW ALC determined that it could save up to $1 million annually by running a similar strategy itself rather than outsourcing to Chifley, I&T News understands.
The fund is working with Dan Simpson of Watson Wyatt, its consultant, to select managers, and has appointed
State Street on a three-month contract to provide interim custody and transition management services to implement changes, liaising with transition manager James Woodward.
Chadwick Pocock, the former head at Chifley who became chief investment officer with NSW ALC in February, said that apart from the investment with BNY Mellon, the council had basically replicated the mandate run by Chifley, but would make some manager changes in the near future.
“We are putting our hands on it, our brand on it, and will restructure it as we move forward,” Pocock said.
Meanwhile,
State Street recently won the custody contract for all the Rio Tinto group pension funds around the world, except for
Australia.
State Street was advised prior to the worldwide tender that the Australian incumbent, NAB Asset Servicing, was to be retained because of various complexities, including taxation issues. The firm therefore did not bid for the Australian business, a spokesperson said.