An affiliate of Old Mutual Asset Management, specialising in global small cap equities, has won a mandate for more than $100 million from an industry fund.

Boston-based Copper Rock Capital Partners received the transition from the $5.7 billion Auscoal industry fund in January.

Its mandate, for north of $100 million, is part of a section of Auscoal’s international share portfolio devoted to ‘less efficient’ markets, which has been developed by the fund’s investment team over the past eight months.

Earmarked a 10 per cent share of the international equity allocation, the ‘less efficient markets’ portfolio is now overseen by three managers – Acadian Asset Management with a quantitative lower-volatility small caps mandate, Edinburgh-based First State Global Asset Management with an emerging markets mandate, and Copper Rock with its alpha seeking style that runs a tracking error against the MSCI World benchmark of approximately 6 per cent, with a discretion to invest up to 15 per cent in emerging markets.

Copper Rock’s mandate has been funded by the cash withdrawn from AllianceBernstein’s value mandate last year.

Copper Rock’s global small cap fund was launched in 2010 with Old Mutual seed funding. It is run by Steve Dexter, a 20-year veteran of global small caps.

The manager’s sole marketing and sales representative in Australia is Ambassador Funds Management Services, while the responsible entity for its Australian-domiciled fund is Equity Trustees.