Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) has shuttered its $500 million large-cap Australian equities business and redeployed half of the eight-member team while letting the remainder go.

 

The manager of $57 billion in funds said the decision was precipitated by a crowded market for domestic large-cap equities, and a lack of demand for its direct and multi-manager products in this sector.

“There are now over 150 such products in the market,” QIC said in a statement.  “QIC’s large-cap capability has not attracted investor interest.”

Four of the managers or analysts in the fund-of-funds, or ‘implemented equities’, business accepted a different job within QIC, and the manager asserted that it remained committed to its Australian small-cap equities capability.

In 2009, as QIC completed its reorganisation into a multi-boutique manager, CEO Doug McTaggart told I&T News that it would close its traditional Australian equity management business and most of its implemented strategies.

The fund manager employs 482 people of whom 264 work directly in investments. QIC has 88 clients that invest in the company’s fixed income, real estate, hedge fund, infrastructure, small-cap Australian equities product, hedge and private equity products.