The private equity market has not only recovered from its doldrums of 2007-2008, it is expected to struggle to satisfy investor demand over the next decade. Two-thirds of LPs plan to increase their allocations, according to the latest survey by SEI Investment Company. SEI, a big US-based fund manager, administrator and advisory group, surveyed 200…
(pictured:Â Ben Chong) The signs are there for an uptick, with two big super funds making commitments and others taking strategic positions in fintech companies, but venture capital in this country remains an after-thought compared with other unlisted assets. Notwithstanding First State Super’s $110 million and HostPlus’s $400 million, the handful of Australian-based venture firms are…
(pictured: Ulrich Braun)Â In the past few years, ESG management has taken on a holistic hue over most big fiduciary funds as an integrated part of their strategies. It is now also starting to permeate niche asset classes that the funds invest in. The latest to be offered in Australia is European property. Through its…
(pictured: Sean Healey)Â There are some big secular changes occurring in funds management and there are some cyclical or even faddish changes. Someone who studies these trends more than most is Sean Healey, the chairman and chief executive of Affiliated Managers Group. AMG is the largest multi-affiliate manager in the world, with 39 firms under…
(pictured:Â Lou Maiuri) Liquidity has risen to become top priority in the management of fiduciary funds for both asset owners and fund managers, according to a joint survey by State Street and the Alternative Investment Management Association. In a report published last week, London-based AIMA and Boston-based State Street say regulations stemming from the 2008 financial…
The UK financial regulator has gone to town on the country’s funds management industry calling for a raft of measures to reduce fees, improve disclosure and increase competition. In a wide-sweeping report released last week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recommends stronger investor best interest requirements for fund managers as well as introducing an “all-in…
(pictured:Â Tim Mitchell) Improving governance offers institutional investors win-win – or at least not-lose-win – odds of boosting performance potentially outdoing even the most optimistic post-fees alpha earned from active management, according to a new Willis Towers Watson (WTW) paper. The study, authored by Tim Mitchell, the former New Zealand Superannuation Fund head of strategic projects…
(pictured:Â Ray Dalio) by Greg Bright Ray Dalio is one of the world’s great investors. He is also a self-confessed misfit. I had lunch with him in the 1990s, when he was on a rare visit to Australia – represented at the time by Sheridan Lee and Tony Tuohey. What he said then resonates now. The…
(pictured:Â Carol Geremia) For as long as there have been performance surveys, starting with Bruce Cook’s Mercer Campbell Cook & Knight in the 1980s, short-termism has been a problem for big super funds. They continually tell themselves not to think that way, but it seems, short-termism is very difficult to avoid. A big international survey undertaken…
(pictured:Â Philip Moffitt) Goldman Sachs Asset Management in Australia will be focusing on developing and promoting a solutions business in the future, following the leveraged buyout of its locally domiciled strategies, emphasising the firm’s global fixed income capabilities. According to Philip Moffitt, the global co-head of fixed income and head of the remaining Australian business, the…
