CARE Super has appointed a new Australian equities manager to replace its terminated $200 million mandate with 452 Capital, while revealing a ‘quality’ bias which will extend to its imminent next hire in the asset class.

The $4 billion industry fund has appointed Schroder Investment Management to a segregated mandate, to be managed by Martin Conlon’s team, replacing its longstanding mandate with 452 Capital which was terminated after most of its executives left earlier this year.

The chief investment officer of CARE Super, Greg Nolan, said the new mandate had a similar bias to quality and value as that which it was replacing,

Nolan added that an investment management agreement was about to be signed with a further Australian equities firm, which espoused a similar preference for well-valued, ‘quality’ companies with strong balance sheets and sustainable earnings. Nolan said CARE Super wanted to protect its members against volatile markets and offer some downside protection.

Elsewhere on the downside protection front, Nolan said he was reviewing CARE’s exposure to hedge funds, which is currently achieved through two fund-of-funds – Aurora (distributed in Australia by Apostle Funds Management) and Fauchier Partners (distributed by BNP Investment Partners). Nolan said he had an “open mind” when it came to possibly investing in single-manager hedge funds.