Analysis

Global stimulus and inflationary expectations mean that listed infrastructure is in the recovery hot seat, but Your Future Your Super presents a homegrown challenge for managers. “We’ve got this perfect storm for listed infrastructure at the moment in the sense that the fundamentals are good and this huge growth thematic is still intact,” according to…

Recently hitting its two-year anniversary, Paradice Investment Management’s emerging markets strategy has been on a “rollercoaster ride”. Co-portfolio managers Edward Su and Michael Roberge have spent the last two years navigating the frenzied market volatility of covid-19, the fallout of mass protests in Hong Kong, and trade wars with China as they pursue opportunities in…

NZ Super’s guardians and management are used to their fair share of lobbying by special interest groups, but the latest, from an Israeli group on behalf of five of Israel’s banks, could have implications for all fiduciary investors. The Israeli lobby group in NZ, Israel Institute, and NZ Super are in an escalating battle over…

Melbourne-based property manager SG Hiscock hasn’t had a lot to celebrate of late, except perhaps its 20th anniversary. Like all good managers, it sees mainly opportunity in the troubles. For starters, founder Steve Hiscock told a zoom media meeting last week (June 16), that the office was not dead. Victoria has had more than 100…

Adopting a robo-advice platform will increase member contributions as well as investment-option performance, while improving diversification, according to a study of French savings plans. While the buzz surrounding its introduction just over 10 years ago has abated, an increasing body of research is building on the value of robo-advice. More than a marketing tool for…

The next iteration for the private equity sector, long-time best performer among alternatives, is for general partners to combine the operations of their portfolio companies to boost flagging returns. Karim Khairallah, a senior managing director and co-portfolio manager at Oaktree Capital in London, and François Mann Quirici, a founding partner at Nexus Associates, also in London,…

Like all big investors, global asset managers have to have a view on China. Most also have a view on alternatives, even if seen only as competition to traditional investment management. Against this backdrop, UBS Asset Management held its inaugural global investor conference, virtually, last month (May 19-20), in which many discussions inevitably led to…

Private capital has shot away from the rest of the alternatives sector in the past few years and did well enough during the worst of the pandemic to support long-term growth predictions. A webinar organised by the Australian Investment Council, in association with researcher Preqin, last week (June 10) provided some colour around the annual…

The NZ Government will release climate risk scenario guidance for the financial and corporate sectors by year-end to support impending new carbon reporting standards. Alex White, Ministry for the Environment (MFE) sustainable finance team leader, told a funds industry gathering in Auckland last week that the in-production scenario analyses would help NZ investors better understand…

Sovereign Wealth Funds are embracing more active roles in domestic economies and sustainability while building on relationships with the private capital industry, according to research by Preqin and Baker McKenzie. A study, ‘Sovereign Wealth Funds in Motion’, was published last week (June 2) by alternative assets data provider Preqin, in partnership with global law firm Baker McKenzie.  The prominence of sovereign wealth…

Karl O’Shaughnessy, former hedge fund manager and head of foreign exchange for NAB, has been battling his concerns about FX trading for more than 25 years. He is now advising institutional investors on how to improve their returns. O’Shaughnessy recently formed SuperClear FX, an advisory business which also offers wholesale clients an implementation ‘product’, which…

“When it comes to both real estate and infrastructure there are a lot of things which are going to change,” says Kumar Kalyanakumar, the head of real assets in Australia for AXA Investment Managers. According to Kumar, covid-19 is a “punctuation mark” in history and he believes events like this cause us to re-prioritise our…