An 82 megawatt peaking power station will be developed in Western Australia following an equity commitment to the project from Palisade Investment Partners. The specialist Australian infrastructure fund manager, responsible for $750 assets under management, invested in the $100 million greenfield project in collaboration with anonymous individuals after being approached by the original developer. The project’s promise of longterm stable cashflows was what attracted the Palisade team to it, said Palisade’s director, Roger Lloyd. “This project connects to the WA – particularly the south-west – energy market and the revenue source is largely based on investor credits from a government counterparty, being the WA Government [as] the market operator. So it’s a fairly stable cashflow,” said Lloyd.
Tibra tax fund anything but derivative
Trading firm Tibra Capital has launched a unique take on the tax-aware Australian equity fund as the first product for its relaunched investment management division. Tibra Investment Management has drawn on its parent’s experience in derivatives trading and riskmanagement to launch a fund – the Tibra Australian Equity Fund – it claimed can exploit a glaring inefficiency in the way equity derivatives were priced. “The pricing of stock options are determined by factors such as expected dividends, interest rates, time to expiry, the strike price and expected volatility. The market does not, however, incorporate the value of franking credits,” according to the fund’s portfolio manager, Stephen Richards, who came to the firm in January 2010 after three years as head of equity derivatives at Westpac. Backtesting had found that exploiting this mispricing could add 2-3 per cent a year on top of the post-tax ASX 200 benchmark, as long as the investor in question was a low- or no-tax payer such as a super fund or an allocated pension vehicle.
Industry Fund Services to launch platform
Industry Fund Services (IFS) has flagged plans to launch an investment platform for distribution through its financial planner network. The platform will offer multiple asset classes from a variety of funds managers, including Industry Funds Management, while manager selection and portfolio construction will be assisted by Frontier Investment Consulting.
AUI insto sales chief exits
The head of institutional sales at Australian Unity Investments (AUI), Adam Coughlan, has left the multi-boutique manager and taken up contract work with a research house in Sydney.
Citi’s drive to bust ‘sub-custodian’ myth
Citi is transitioning two new clients to its fund services offering as sales chief David Edwards and his recently built team deliver the message that the bank has the capability to provide full-service custody.
Towers Watson linked into super admin
Towers Watson has partnered with an industry specialist to bring a new force to fund administration: an alternative system for ‘hybrid’ industry, corporate and public sector funds.
Russell NZ finds partner to grow the pie
Russell Investments has struck a deal with a local partner in New Zealand to launch a new range of funds targeting both institutional and retail clients.
