News

 (Pictured: Darrell Ludowyke) Thanks to the internet and some fundamental changes to the way people communicate, the database business – forever the poor cousin of sales and marketing – is finally gaining acceptance as an area to invest serious capital. Darrell Ludowyke, a database veteran, says the business is moving away from being part of the…

(Pictured: Warren Chant) The super fund awards business seems to deliver as much intrigue as the industry as a whole. In the latest twist, one of the two new fund awards organisers, research firm Chant West, announced Friday it had split from its partner, Conexus Financial, for next year’s awards. Principals Warren Chant and Andrea West…

(Pictured: Peter Tiffin and Johnathan Thurston) Two fund management industry identities, Perpetual Investments group executive Michael Gordon and Ambassador Funds Management Services director Peter Tiffin, have come together to help raise awareness of bowel cancer, the second biggest cause of cancer deaths in Australia. Both suffered from the disease last year and have recovered from…

(Pictured: David Hartley) by Greg Bright Sunsuper has lifted the pace in building its in-house investment capabilities, with the recent recruitment of five investment professionals. David Hartley, the CIO, said: “It’s all about getting closer to our assets”. The $30 billion fund is building a middle-and-back office capability through improved risk reporting, mandate monitoring and securities…

(Pictured: Ged Fitzpatrick) The strong US trend to liquid alternatives for the retail market, which is showing signs of blossoming in Australia, has attracted the attention of ASIC, the AIMA Australia Hedge Fund Forum was told last week. The annual forum, which had a record attendee roll-up of almost 300 – making it the largest investment…

(Pictured: Martin Scott) Global private equity specialist Partners Group has launched an Australian dollar unit trust for the platforms market with monthly liquidity and offering applications and redemptions prices at net asset value. The fund is based on a seven-year-old global fund which has more than 2,500 individual positions. It also contains a lot of ‘secondaries’…

(Pictured: Alison Wallis) The Melbourne-based Catholic Superannuation Fund has seeded an Australian-domiciled US micro-cap fund launched by local investment advisory firm Brookvine and US micro and small-cap manager Thomson Horstmann & Bryant (THB). A research note by Brookvine illustrates the unique nature of US micro-caps. The CSF has invested $90 million in the new fund….

(Pictured: Richard Johnston) It wouldn’t be a hedge fund conference without a discussion about fees … and the AIMA Australia Hedge Fund Forum last week did not disappoint. One positive suggestion was: perhaps super funds should look to trade off lock-ups for lower fees. Richard Johnston, the managing director of alternatives consultant Albourne Partners (Asia), which…

(Pictured: Bob Browne) Smart beta strategies are not without their risks, nor their costs. They are becoming increasingly popular, however, as super funds tweak their portfolios ahead of what many see as an end to the recovery period for major share markets post global financial crisis. Immediately post crisis, institutional investors became more interested in traditional…

(Pictured: Adam Gee) After a year which included a raft of regulatory change and review – especially the introduction of MySuper – the annual SuperRatings awards consist of 10 not-for-profit funds as finalists in each of the ‘super’ and ‘pension’ awards categories. The finalists for the four main categories were announced last week. Winners will be…

by Greg Bright NAB Asset Servicing has prepared a statement to be released to the ASX covering a new arrangement for the global component of its asset servicing arm, having received no offers for the business following a tender process. Northern Trust has pulled out of negotiations with NAB over the partial sale a couple…

(Pictured: Catherine Nance) Super funds are stronger than ASX-listed companies in “a couple of areas of governance”, according to PwC partner Catherine Nance, but differences between the two areas reflect a “misalignment” of regulation of the overlapping investment pools. Nance was the main speaker during a session on the governance of super funds, ‘Lessons from the…