News

SG Hiscock & Company, a celebrated boutique equities house established by its principals in 2001, has issued a warning to investors to look closely at the management of companies to see whether they have the wherewithal to deal with “21st Century business risks”. At a briefing in Sydney last week, Stephen Hiscock, the founding chairman…

Why is private equity so expensive? Because it’s worth it, according to Mike Forestner, Mercer’s Atlanta-based global co-CIO of private markets. It can offer 3 per cent returns above public markets, he says. Forestner told Mercer’s annual NZ conference last week that private equity was “complicated, expensive and governance is a challenge” but – if…

The fifth annual Asset Manager Summit, which looks at the implications of trends in funds management from a coal-face perspective, including operational issues, will feature discussions about both the institutional and the retail landscape given momentous change in the industry. The Summit is at Sydney’s Swissotel on October 18. The main topics are:: Attracting retail…

by David Chaplin The NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) could increase both the size and diversity of its factor-based global equity investments, according to recently-appointed chief executive, Matt Whineray. Whineray, who took over the top job this June, said the smart beta international share mandates – awarded to Northern Trust and AQR in 2016 and 2017,…

by Greg Bright As the number of class actions over financial problems at listed companies grows in Australia, as it has been doing for the past three-four years, so does the pressure on aggrieved investors and their representatives to quantify the damage. The Australian trend is to follow America and leave that decision to the…

ESG is a journey, according to Mike Cantara. It’s about the discovery of a lot of things: from what it means to be a proper long-term fiduciary investor to what it means to be a proper long-term individual investor with a moral compass. Mike Cantara is the co-chair of the Boston-based MFS Investment Management’s ‘Sustainability…

AXA Investment Management, a big global manager with a strong ESG pedigree, announced last week that it had boosted its ESG capabilities and that it would move to integrate ESG principles across all its portfolios. That is actually easier said than done. Matt Christensen, the global head of AXA IM’s responsible investing oversight, said that…

In a typically controversial session at the Investment Management Research conference last week –  formerly run by the Paul Woolley Centre for the Study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality – the US academic, Professor Anat Admati, of Stanford University, took a big aim at Australia’s banks. Banking, it seems, is not just potentially immoral, it’s dangerous….

Pinnacle Investment Management’s newest affiliate manager, the ex-Macquarie long/short managers now known as Firetrail Investments, will today launch a listed investment company seeking up to $378 million. As of last week, the group had already reached close to its minimum requirement. At an investor and press briefing in Sydney on Friday, September 21, the Firetrail…

The top portfolio investment entity (PIE) tax rate could rise for non-KiwiSaver funds under proposals tabled to government last week by the mastermind of the $A38 billion New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Sir Michal Cullen. Papers supporting the Cullen-led Tax Working Group (TWG) interim report suggest increasing the top PIE rate from the current 28 per…

Some earnings disappointments and continued nervousness about the impact of a trade war have taken some of the shine off emerging markets in the short term but global manager Martin Currie has cautioned investors against reacting hastily to the current conditions. “We are starting to see some money being taken off the table,” according to…

State Super, the $43 billion NSW Government fund, which fits in the TCorp family, is restructuring its senior management, in the process creating four new investment roles. John Livanas, the chief executive, said the new roles included two executive positions and two senior management positions. The new roles are: Deputy CIO and GM Defined Contribution…