Colonial First State Global Asset Management’s Global Resources Fund might manage $4 billion, but it’s only just found its first sizeable Australian institutional client – and he’s the same guy responsible for the first and still only China ‘A’ Shares mandate from an Australian investor.

The Non-Government Schools Superannuation Fund (NGS) has allocated $30 million to the Global Resources Fund, which is run by Joanne Warner, with the team nominally based in Sydney but travelling much of the time to mine sites around the globe.

The chief investment officer of NGS Super, Tim Hughes, said the resources fund was an indirect way of accessing emerging markets growth, by tapping into their demand for hard commodities as they industrialise.

“The mandate we have given to CFS GAM is totally benchmark unaware…only around 10 per cent of the world’s resources industry is in Australia and we see major opportunities in places like Mongolia, Africa, Latin America and Kazakhstan”.

It’s understood NGS Super funded the global resources mandate with a redemption from its Australian equities portfolio.

Tim Hughes has a track record of seeking novel ways to access emerging markets, for instance it’s understood he arranged a specialist China ‘A’ shares mandate while he was chief investment officer at Catholic Super.