The chief executive of the $40 billion fund says that bringing back defined benefit funds could make the public service an attractive career path again and strengthen the social compact with nurses, teachers and police.
The set-up for emerging markets is better than ever, and harks back to the beginning of their decade-long run following the end of the Asian financial crisis. And while Trump has investors running scared, fears about another brushfire trade war are overblown.
Bell wins $500 million mandate from Hostplus
“We look forward to working with Bell Asset Management to manage a global SMID strategy for Hostplus’ developed markets portfolio,” said Hostplus CEO David Elia. “Bell’s strong long-term performance record, the quality of the team and a disciplined investment approach were the key factors in our making them part of our growing and diversified portfolio. We expect this strategy to add resilience to Hostplus’ asset class structure in light of the increasing market uncertainty.”
Amidst the trend of in-house management, Hostplus has been one of the few super funds to stick with a heavily outsourced model, with CIO Sam Sicilia attributing its investment success in 2022 to its firm belief in active management and saying that active management “will continue to be the key to managing the continued volatility we are expected to see over the coming years.”
Bell’s Global Small and Mid-Cap strategy has outperformed the MSCI World SMID Cap index by +5.3 per cent per annum over the past five years, while its flagship Global Core strategy has outperformed the MSCI World index by 2.2 per cent per annum since its inception in 2003.
“We are delighted to have been selected by Hostplus, after an extensive due diligence process,” said Ned Bell, CIO at Bell Asset Management (photo at top). “We’re looking forward to working with the Hostplus team to manage funds on their members’ behalf. We understand the importance of this decision and greatly appreciate the opportunity.”
