News

AustralianSuper and QIC have become part of a select group of financial backers in an American funds manager which specialises in ‘sustainable’ infrastructure projects. The manager, Generate Capital, has secured a total of US$1.5 billion in a recent raising. Other investors in the raising include Railways Pension (of Canada) and Sweden’s AP2, according to a…

SuperRatings, the research house, said over the weekend that super funds had a positive start to 2020, with the median balanced option returning 1.9 per cent in January, driven predominately by gains from Australian and International shares. But, the Coronavirus emanating from China, has made February a lot more difficult in investment terms. Markets have,…

by Greg Bright Sargon Capital’s main corporate entity has been placed in administration, prompting a trading halt on OneVue, Australia’s major unit registry and investment admin business. Let’s take a look at Sargon’s principals, the husband and wife team of Phil Kingston and Fiona Borelli. Neither Phil Kingston nor Fiona Borelli, Phil’s partner and head…

by Greg Bright As the markets get more and more toppy the active-versus- passive, age-old argument, is swinging more toward the active managers. No-one wants to get caught in a bubble of cap-weighted index-hugging indices at the end of the longest bull market in history. So, what do you do? As an aside, Australia’s main…

Thomas Murray, the influential global advisor to asset owners and their custodians, is, like many financial services firms, embarking on a new trajectory for future growth. The immediate next focus is on monitoring and due diligence of cash correspondent banks, plus technological developments. On a regular visit to Australia last week, Ross Whitehill, the Thomas…

“Value is a philosophy, not a factor,” according to Bill Lipsey, president and head of distribution for New York-based global equities manager Pzena Investment Management. He visited Australia last week for the launch of the firm’s new fund, the ‘Pzena Global Focused Value Fund’. “There are really only two ways to invest,” he says. “Value…

When it comes to valuation, how ethical or not a firm is matters, according to an academic study by Augustin Landier, Professor of Finance at HEC Paris Business School, and his associates. People are prepared to pay more for an “ethical” stock and want to pay less for an “unethical” one. A new study by…

The annual HLB Mann Judd analysis of the Australian initial public offerings shows that while the number of IPOs fell last year, those that made it to the market performed better. This tells us a bit about the current state of our sharemarket. According to Marcus Ohm, the Perth-based HLB Mann Judd partner who authored…

Kristen Kohere-Soutar has stepped up as Mercer NZ chair following the retirement of long-time incumbent, Ross Butler. Kohere-Soutar joined the Mercer board in 2017, simultaneously dropping her director spot on the Ngāi Tahu-run Whai Rawa Fund. Mercer runs both investment and, more recently, fund administration for the almost $100 million Whai Rawa. In a statement,…

By Greg Bright Recent work by Boston-based communications agency CL-Media Relations LLC has raised some interesting questions over correlations between asset managers’ funds under management and their market cap. It’s not about the total of FUM, it’s more about how it was derived. The communications firm, co-founded by partner Rich Chimberg, has presented clients and…

For years, the industry waited for the pace of growth of the SMSF sector, in both assets and number of trustees, to slow and then move into reverse. That time is upon us. But, according to John Maroney at least, the consolidation, cements the sector’s importance. SMSFs will likely settle into a position representing about…

*By John O’Brien Warren Buffett came to my wife in a dream and told her to put all her retirement savings in Berkshire Hathaway stock. So, she did. Not to be outdone, I lay in bed waiting for inspiration. The only person I could come up with was Michael A.J. Farrell, who invented the mortgage REIT….