Analysis

While a combination of factors is driving the alternatives investment sector towards full maturity, pressure is also mounting on fund manager and investor capabilities for efficiency and governance. According to a short paper by Northern Trust’s asset servicing arm, the weight of money into alternatives leading to a broadening investor base, regulators and increasing congestion…

Value managers are hopeful that, following the second consecutive quarter of the factor’s outperformance, their world has returned to normal. Value may well be back. For the March quarter, for Australian shares, the S&P/ASX 200 value factor index was up 8.50 per cent, making a 12-month return of 42.71 per cent. The S&P/ASX 200 growth…

As the ESG investment world prepares for what may come out of the COP26 climate change conference in November, Martin Currie has set out the four major challenges in making the transition to net zero emissions. In its ‘Net Zero: From Policy to Action‘ research note published this month, which is part of its four-part…

It may be intuitive but there is now evidence that investors with more testosterone and those who drive flashy sports cars tend to produce lower returns over time. They take too much risk. We have Yan Lu, an American academic, to largely thank for those observational gems. From a position at the University of Central…

Longreach Alternatives, a multi-affiliate manager started by Sam Mann in late 2016, has added to its range of boutique offerings with the launch of a fisheries quota firm. A common theme for the range is “sustainable income”. Mann, best known for setting up and running for nearly 10 years the K2 Advisors hedge fund business…

The shift in investor preference for passive over active funds continued in the last two years, but Australian investors were more resistant to the global trend, according to research from Calastone. Calastone’s latest report, ‘Tidal Forces – Can Active Funds Fight the Passive Flows?’ compiled from analysis of fund transactions across its network during the last…

Big pension funds are looking to put on a good show prior to policy maker announcements at the increasingly anticipated COP26 United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow starting November 1. The UN PRI and London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) co-hosted a global webinar this month (March 11) for more than 2,000 asset owners and…

As Sunsuper and Qsuper took another step forward in their proposed merger last week, the biggest hurdle, negotiating with the Queensland Government, appears to have been cleared. Now for the investments issue. The two funds, one trying to be truly national and the other strongly tied to its Queensland public service membership core, announced their…

This is not another ‘now is the time for value’ story. Really. Perhaps the unique nature of the market’s record run in growth over value has been to do with our definition of value. Here are some alternative thoughts. According to a paper from Amundi Asset Management, ‘Do Not Give Up on Fundamental Valuations’, Investors…

Australian company directors should be doing more to ensure their executives stick to the ethical values espoused at board level if they want to avoid a repeat of the poor behaviours exposed at the Hayne Royal Commission. A ‘Dialogue’ paper, published by the Actuaries Institute but representing the views of the author, Barry Rafe, identifies…

In the face of an ever-increasing wave of issues surrounding culture within funds management businesses, Frontier has become more aggressive in its approach to assessing culture within the businesses managing its client funds. Frontier, which advises on about $450 billion, has always assessed and considered culture within the context of developing manager ratings and recommendations,…

Kate Farrar, the chief executive-elect for the combined LGIAsuper and Energy Super, says the funds are looking to build something that’s a bit different – “a boutique at scale”. “Both funds had the same strategy going into this,” she said after her role was announced last week (March 8), to take effect on July 1…