AustralianSuper has hired two people to run domestic small caps and is in process of appointing a third. George Batsakis, formerly of Goldman Sachs, and Luke Smith, formerly of Canaccord Genuity, have joined the fund which is in the process of establishing its small caps and global equities teams, projected to reach as many as … Read more
Edward Smith is to become Legalsuper’s first chief investment officer on June 29. Smith is joining the $2.6 billion fund from Australian Unity, where he was head of portfolio management and responsible for a team managing the assets of several friendly societies, two health companies, the non-lending assets of a building society and wholesale and … Read more
There is still value in infrastructure, according to ADIA’s head of infrastructure, John McCarthy, provided you adopt a flexible approach. The huge sovereign wealth fund is reviewing its strategy, including whether it currently has appropriate benchmarks in infrastructure, a question that has been prompted by its outperformance. The natural competitive advantage that the Abu … Read more
Maged Girgis, partner at Minter Ellison, points out the growing likelihood of legal challenge for trustee directors that ignore analysis and evidence of global warming in their investment decisions, but he says any decision to include or exclude carbon-intensive assets must be one that involves, analysis, deliberation and information gathering. Recently there has been an … Read more
Growing capacity to invest, cheaper valuations than equities and low interest rates were all cited as tail winds for listed infrastructure at an IMCA lunchtime seminar in Sydney on Friday. The key challenge to this rosy picture for the asset class at the seminar was a difference of opinion on how far interest rates would … Read more
Global investors’ hunt for return has become so keen that Australian bonds have in recent months seen high correlations with changes in yields on German bunds, according to UBS Global Asset Management. After making headlines for negative yields in March, German bund yields rallied in April and Australian bonds yields followed suit despite domestic economic … Read more
Statistical analysis of the Budget changes to super show the Government has cut back on overall fairness to all Australians in terms of tax concessions. Ton Garcia, chief executive of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees explains why. Last month this column examined the issue of fairness – or to be more precise – … Read more
Changing liquidity premiums and a long time horizon allow the NZ$29 billion sovereign wealth fund, New Zealand Super Fund, to access new investment opportunities. Liquidity premiums are appearing in niches because of the changing activities of the banking sector, essentially in areas where investment banks, brokers and hedge funds were actively involved pre-GFC. “One of … Read more
Superannuation funds’ asset management costs are destined to fall on average to around 40-50 basis points, predicts Chris Cuffe. The chair of UniSuper speaking at the Frontier Advisors Conference in Melbourne on Tuesday saw the removal of default status for industry funds as one of the key drivers of lower management expense ratios (MERs). Cuffe … Read more
Indian companies in cyclical sectors are trading at a huge discount to valuations and will be some of the largest beneficiaries of the Modi effect, according to HSBC Global Asset Management. Reforms from prime minister Narendra Modi have passed government subsidies to individuals’ bank accounts rather than intermediaries, leading to greater bank account use … Read more
A new breed of passive manager that conducts greater engagement with companies to create long term value is set to emerge as the scope for large investors to gain access to skilled managers decreases. The US$ 4.77 trillion fund manager BlackRock has already started down this path in the belief that long term financial and … Read more
Large superannuation funds’ hiring spree of leading consultants has continued with the appointment of Andrew Baker of Tria to AustralianSuper. Over the past 18 months, Richard Weatherhead and Thierry Bareau have left Rice Warner to work on the group insurance offering of AustralianSuper, while Guy McAliece has left KPMG to join First State Super in … Read more
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Investment Magazine provides in-depth, monthly analysis of trends and developments for all the businesses in which superannuation funds engage‚ including asset allocation, investment manager selection, custody and fund accounting, member administration, group insurance and compliance.
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