‘452’ has been the magic number for the transition management industry, as institutional investors continue to redistribute mandates pulled from the Australian equities value boutique founded by Peter Morgan and Warwick Negus.

REST Superannuation, which was the largest institutional investor in 452 (outside of its part-owner Commonwealth Bank/Colonial First State), is understood to have redistributed its near-$1 billion mandate among its other existing Australian equity managers, as well as using appointing a new one, Greencape Capital.

The mandate with the Challenger-backed boutique is understood to be related to Greencape’s ‘high conviction’ strategy.

CARE Superannuation, an industry fund which had nearly $200 million invested with 452, had terminated the mandate and last week was finalising an investment management agreement with a new Australian equities manager, according to chief investment officer Greg Nolan.

The $3.5 billion Retirement Benefits Fund of Tasmania, meanwhile, has just funded Martin Conlon’s Australian equity team at Schroder Investment Management with approximately $180 million pulled from 452.

HOSTPLUS had been one of the first to offload its 452 exposure, redistributing its $300 million mandate among existing managers just days after the August 18 announcement that the two most senior investment personnel in Peter Morgan’s absence – Mary Feros and Suellen Morgan – were stepping down, as was CEO Lyndsey Hancock.

Colonial First State was also quick out of the blocks, despite its ‘affiliates’ business owning 30 per cent of 452 Capital. Its retail mandates with the manager were taken over by Paul Fiani’s Integrity boutique, and CFS Global Asset Management’s ‘Core’ Australian equities team under Martin Littler.

Transition managers have said the withdrawal of capital from 452 has been the biggest trigger for transitions since a chunk of Barclays Global Investors mandates were cancelled, following that manager’s merger with BlackRock and associated personnel changes.

Calls to 452 Capital’s Sydney office last week were greeted with a recorded message, and no reply had been received at presstime.

On a more melancholy note for the transitions industry, meanwhile, Lilliana Colla formally ended her tenure at BlackRock last week following the manager’s decision to close the Melbourne transition management office, in preference for servicing Australian clients from Hong Kong.