Who heads up distribution at Henderson?

Matt Gaden will move from Challenger to Henderson Global Investors as the dual-listed fund manager seeks to re-establish its Australian business. Gaden will move from his current role as general manager of institutional business and strategic alliances at Challenger to join Henderson Australia’s executive chairman, Rob Adams, and executive director, Nick Evans, as head of … Read more

Asia Pacific our biggest funds source

A two-year study has shown that the Asia-Pacific region is by far the largest contributor to fund flows into Australian managed funds. The report, Australian Investment Managers’ Cross-Border Flows, was released by the Financial Services Council and independent trustee, The Trust Company. It was commissioned following the release of Mark Johnson’s landmark report of 2009, … Read more

Cbus CEO to explain strategy changes at FIS

Cbus chief executive, David Atkin, will explain his fund’s new investment strategy, which saw the CIO role split in two, at the Fidicuary Investors Symposium in Victoria later this month. The 18-month Cbus review created a new role – known as executive manager, investment strategy – which will be taken up by former Frontier Advisors’ … Read more

LGS strengthens ESG suit with Hermes mandate

Hermes Fund Managers has been awarded a $90-million environmental, social and governance mandate by Local Government Super for a developed-world equities fund. Hermes director, Ian Manton-Hall, told IM Online that the fund was similar to another of the firm’s funds for core investor, the BT Pension Scheme, but with some particular overlays specifically for Local … Read more

Alternatives: buyer beware

Many superannuation funds that suffered losses to their alternatives portfolios during the global financial crisis were not using the asset class for its intended purpose – to diversify portfolio risk. So says Simon Eagleton, Mercer’s investment head for Australian and New Zealand, who believes many of the alternative assets that funds invested in carried the … Read more

Investment Magazine Chief Investment Officer Survey

We’re launching the Investment Magazine Chief Investment Officer Survey (imCIOS). imCIOS will look at the investment allocations, teams, outlook and decision-making of Australia’s institutional investors. It will be the basis of an ongoing analysis of this sector, measuring the sentiment, investment outlook and behaviours of these investors. To achieve this, we need your input. We ask … Read more

CommIF and the future of PPPs

AMP Capital’s Community Infrastructure Fund (CommIF) has handed a key social infrastructure project back to the Government of Victoria but despite the milestone, a dearth of future projects could send investors and infrastructure developers offshore, particularly at the top end of the market. AMP’s CommIF designed, constructed and maintained 228 communication sites and towers, as … Read more

Castlereagh and the kiss of the knight rider

Ever since last Tuesday Castlereagh has had that awful feeling you get after a blinder, when you’ve done things you wish you couldn’t remember. It was the Melbourne Cup, of course, and I was down there to hob nob in various hospitality tents with all my friends and connections from all over Australia and the … Read more

Evolution at Vanguard, Plum and IFM

Vanguard has announced that Greg Davis, principal and head of bond indexing in Vanguard’s fixed income group, will assume the chief investment officer role for the Asia Pacific region in 2013. Davis, who has been with Vanguard for 13 years, currently has responsibility for managing in excess of US$240 billion in bond index portfolios. He … Read more

Funds shakeout coming, says Bennelong chief

The Australian market has too many domestic and international fund managers and is heading for a major “structural shift”, according to chief executive of Bennelong Funds Management, Jarrod Brown. In an interview with I&T News, Brown said that while his boutique – which manages around $3 billion for a range of Australian institutions – had … Read more

State Street wins latest custody battle

State Street Corporation has scored a win over main rival National Australia Bank in the custody sector, winning a custody mandate from $625-million fund, Christian Super. The appointment follows a review of its custody arrangements by the fund, with chief executive Peter Murphy saying that Christian Super’s strong growth in the last few years had … Read more

Coming soon: emerging market corporate debt

Debt issues by emerging market corporations might seem risky and volatile at the moment, but it was set to develop strongly as an asset class, according to HSBC’s Marge Karner. A senior portfolio manager with HSBC Global Asset Management, Karner told I&T News that despite its growing prominence, “emerging-market corporate debt still remains an under-owned … Read more