News

by Greg Bright A new wave of investment vehicles is upon us, reflecting the final convergence of listed and unlisted funds. Once again, Magellan Financial Group and its long-time administrator, Mainstream Fund Services, appear to have stolen the march on the rest of the industry. The Airlie Australian Share Fund is about to transform itself…

A group of three big global managers has linked up to promote the benefits of active management in Australia and New Zealand, ahead of what is generally expected to be a sharemarket correction sometime soon. Active managers have been through a rough time in the past two years. In the inevitable downturn, they should shine…

Zenith Investment Partners will pay $12 million for the research and consultancy business, Chant West, which is owned by Chant West Holdings Ltd (CWL), an ASX-listed company. Warren Chant was the first person to phone David Wright, Zenith’s chief executive, to congratulate him on the purchase. News of the deal, orchestrated by Brendan Burwood, the…

Franklin Templeton, a traditional global fund manager based in the unlikely small city of San Mateo, California, has agreed to buy the multi-affiliate manager Legg Mason, based in an equally unlikely city of Baltimore. Multi-affiliate management, while popular with investors, is not easy. Franklin Templeton’s announcement last Tuesday, February 18, stressed that Legg Mason’s affiliates…

Comment by Greg Bright The Motor Trades Association of Australia super fund, representing, primarily, car dealers and their staff, and Tasplan, the Tasmanian public offer fund representing public servants and others, which are in the process of an unlikely merger into a $22 billion-plus fund, have advertised for a new CIO. Philip Brown, the current…

Adam Coughlan died suddenly, of a heart attack, on Sunday, February 16. He was a popular and well-known member of the wholesale/retail funds management community. He was just 48 years old and left behind wife Vicki and 14-year-old daughter Sophie. He will be missed, not only by them but also by the wider industry community….

The almost NZ$50 billion NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) has added three new external mandates and cut one long-time manager from its roster over the last eight months. According to information updated in the wake of last week’s annual results, the NZS recently dropped LSV Asset Management, from a NZ$460 million emerging markets equities mandate –…

The Emerge Foundation, a funds management industry-supported charity which provides educational and health initiatives in Timor Leste, last week presented a cheque for $210,000 to the university which runs the curriculum for the major teaching college in Baucau. Ian MacRitchie, the charity’s founder and a high-profile financial planner, has now donated a total of $2.35…

by Greg Bright CalSTRS, the second-largest pension fund in the US and a bellwether for others, has instituted a new policy on its engagement with the thousands of companies in its global portfolios. The policy focuses on where the fund can have the most impact. The move is likely to be watched by other big…

An often-expressed criticism of the ESG investing space, mainly by institutional investors, is the lack of robust benchmarks and/or ratings from independent bodies. ESG investing is complex. A new study by Research Affiliates indicates just how much work the industry needs to do to improve accountability. The study by Dr Feifi Li and fellow researcher…

AMP Capital, a big funds manager, has enjoined the asset servicing sector of the industry in seeking out opportunities for enhanced returns and better efficiencies through data analytics. Perhaps ironically, it’s the chair of the hedge fund group AIMA Australia – Alistair Rew – who is leading AMP’s charge in the field. Rew normally tends…

When Laurence Bailey, then head of Chase Manhattan (now J.P. Morgan) in Australasia, backed the embryonic Australian Custodial Services Association, formed by a former National Australia Bank asset services manager, John Gall, in 1996, he had some big aspirations. Gall was the first secretary of the nascent organisation and Bailey decided custodians deserved to make…