News

Hedge Funds Rock, the gala dinner held in Sydney last week, which includes the annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards, has raised nearly $4 million for children’s charities since it started in 2002 as a knock-about rock-and-roll night. It has managed to maintain its sense of fun while growing into a highly regarded event. Kim Ivey,…

Aided by “complexity and fear”, the family office-style fund manager Manikay Partners has bought into the privatisation of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. It’s the best sort of business, like a royalty stream, says Shane Finemore an heir to the famous trucking family company. Shane Finemore, the managing partner and CIO of Manikay, which invests…

Among the highlights of the AIMA Australia Annual Forum that showcased the alternative funds management sector was Australia’s newest hedge fund, Australian Students Asset Management (ASAM*). Launched at the Forum, ASAM is the vision of University of NSW student Doron Haifer who, with the support of his peers and specifically Michael Gallagher, AIMA General Manager…

Nanuk Asset Management has appointed Stephen O’Brien, formerly chief executive of Deutsche Asset Management (Australia), as head of institutional sales, marking a return to funds management after several years focused on investor relations. O’Brien has 30 years’ experience in institutional sales, including previous senior roles with investment firms Schroder, Tyndall (now Nikko) and UBS. Eric…

DTCC has published a new white paper to raise awareness of key risks and emerging threats facing the finance and investment industry and proposes actions to help address them. While the stability and resiliency of the global financial marketplace has improved significantly since the 2008 crisis, the paper published by DTCC (The Depository Trust &…

The $40 billion NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) has found a new head of investment operations in-house. In an appointment confirmed last week, Amy Hitchcock, previously NZS manager business solutions group, takes over the head of investment operations spot vacated by Nikki Bell. Bell had a more than decade-long career at NZS, rising to the head…

By Greg Bright Pinnacle Investment Management, the independent Australian-based multi-affiliate manager, has recruited another senior executive to assist its global positioning in the institutional world. Multi-affiliate managers, Australian or otherwise, are a great barometer for the future of our funds management industry. Pinnacle has hired Duncan Hodnett, the former head of institutional business, and de-facto…

While pushing back its deadline a bit, the ASX has made great progress towards replacing its old CHESS transactions administration system with the new distributed ledger technology, colloquially known as ‘blockchain’. The ASX will be the first stock exchange in the world to embrace the new technology. In a paper on its website the ASX has…

IOOF has become the initial investor in a new international micro-cap fund launched by Brookvine and managed by US specialist Thomson Horstmann & Bryant. International micro-caps represent an interesting new asset class for Australian investors. The great thing about international micro-caps is that they provide the same entrepreneurial growth opportunities that Aussie ones do, but…

The New Zealand subsidiary of National Australia Bank, BNZ, has split its wealth management division along product and advice lines, hiring an executive from the Australian parent to fill one of the new roles. Following the redesign, current BNZ head of wealth, Donna Nicolof, has been named general manager private bank and wealth advisory while…

Government-related entities account for almost 70 per cent of assets invested by the world’s 300 largest pension funds, according to a global study by the ‘Thinking Ahead Institute’ (TAI) – an offshoot of global consultancy firm Willis Towers Watson . The report shows public sector and sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) manage US$7.1 trillion and US$5.3…

Listed markets rather than private equity offer the best avenue to capture the upside of disruptive technologies, according to Ark Invest founder Catherine Wood. Wood, in Australia and New Zealand this month for a Nikko Asset Management roadshow, said venture capital could not build the necessary scale the current wave of innovative technology firms needed…