For CI Financial, the new controlling shareholder of multi-affiliate manager Grant Samuel Funds Management, Australia represents one of its three most important markets for growth. More local acquisitions and a roll-out of new products and strategies can be expected. The acquisition of 80 per cent of GSFM last year was the first significant move by…
by David Chaplin PIMCO’s former man in New Zealand, Tony Hildyard, is roaring back into the market with the launch of a new NZ$200 million-plus global fixed income fund managed by his ex-employer. Hildyard said the new fund, to be marketed under the recently-established Hunter Investment Funds brand, was the first PIMCO-managed product structured specifically…
Post-truth By Craig Mercer* Post-truth /pəʊs(t)ˈtruËθ/ adjective relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. Oxford Dictionary In late 2016, Oxford Dictionaries announced the word post-truth was its ‘word of the year’. The organisation determining that, while the word had been used…
The fifth annual Chant West Awards presentation will be held on May 24 at a black-tie event at Sydney’s Ivy Ballroom. The Awards night has been sold out every year so far, and the same is expected this year. Tickets will go on sale from today (February 6). The analysis that goes into selecting the…
In a series of papers prepared with Harvard professor George Serafeim, Calvert Investment Management has studied how the changing role of the corporation in society is providing new investment opportunities. The broader role of, especially, global companies is affecting their stock market valuations. Calvert, a US$12 billion ESG-specialist US and global manager founded in the…
Mine Wealth + Wellbeing, the $10 billion industry super fund, has continued to expand its executive team and the breadth of its responsibilities. The two latest appointments are for a ‘chief technology and innovation officer’ and for a ‘chief engagement officer’. The fund’s expansion, coinciding with a change of name from the old Auscoal in…
Laurence (Larry) Fink, the founder, chairman and chief executive of BlackRock, by far the world’s largest asset manager, has used his annual letter to corporate CEOs to stir the pot about holding a long-term course in a technologically and politically disrupted world. Fink said that the vast majority of BalckRock’s clients were investing for long-term…
There will be little-to-no change in BlackRock’s arrangements in Australia and New Zealand, but the news of JP Morgan’s $1 trillion new securities services mandate shocked the custody and administration world last week. BlackRock has reassigned about 20 per cent of its US$5 trillion in assets under management and administration to JP Morgan and away,…
Wilson Asset Management has called on the directors of Hunter Hall to “do the right thing” following their rejection last week of an equal-access share buyback. Recent market activity reflects retail investors exiting, corporate manoeuvrings and Wilson’s buying, the manager said Friday. The response by Wilson Asset Management, a significant shareholder in Hunter Hall’s listed…
The demographic shift leading demand for retirement products, the trend to factor investing strategies and questions over market-cap benchmarks are combining to raise awareness for the importance of franking credits. But it’s not as simple as it seems. A new paper from implementation manager Parametric, ‘A Fresh Look at Franking’, revisits earlier work which showed that…
