Analysis

(pictured: Martin Gilbert) by Greg Bright In these days of increasing variety in investment structures, from traditional LICs to listed investment trusts, to ETFs to SMAs and IMAs, to mFunds and, most recently, to exchange quoted managed funds, it’s the traditional – the LIC – which investors and managers alike still tend to favour. For some…

There are lots of theories about the best way to manage money but one of the most enduring is to adopt long-term thematic bets resulting in idiosyncratic concentrated portfolios. Enter Guardian Capital to the Australian market. Guardian has become a client of third-party marketer Allen Partners and has committed to offering its style of investing,…

(pictured: Jack Inglis) Hedge funds don’t rate highly in the court of public opinion, said Jack Inglis as he opened the annual AIMA Forum in Sydney. And their image is not helped by the media. But the truth about what hedge funds can deliver is far more nuanced than that. Inglis provided a warts-and-all look at…

(pictured: Tom Garcia)  The big topic of “capital stewardship”, as a kind-of overlay for responsible investing and ESG that have been embraced by super funds and other fiduciaries, was a key theme at last week’s AIST Australian Superannuation Investment annual conference in Cairns. Tom Garcia, AIST chief executive, said the 430 capped-attendance to what is…

The investment world loves its acronyms, even though, as the old gag goes, we should try to avoid TLAs (three-letter acronyms). Here’s a new one: the MAC, which stands for multi-asset credit. It’s a potential new path in the search for yield. A client research note from global manager Eaton Vance Investment Managers – ‘Accessing…

(pictured: Laurent Bourlard) AXA Investment Managers has signalled its intention to be a part of the search for workable retirement solutions for the members of the not-for-profit super funds. It is looking at ways to incorporate some of the funds’ existing strategies and managers in its own design thinking. Craig Hurt, AXA IM’s director, Australia and…

(pictured: Mike Schneider) A common lament among investors is ‘where to invest’ for growth if equities are fully priced and interest rates are low-to-negative. According to a paper by Artisan Partners, companies which combine technological advances with traditional industrial characteristics of quality are a good place to look. In Australia to speak at a Conexus conference…

(pictured: Michael Gordon) by Michael Gordon* Much has been written on these pages in recent weeks on the issue of fund manager fees. The argument is not new and is typically partisan. However, in 30 years in the business I’ve never seen fee pressure so extreme. Fees right across the traditional asset management agency chain have…

(pictured: John McMurtrie) The Link Group maiden full year result as a listed company did not disappoint. Perhaps the biggest surprise was how well Link has integrated the formerly troubled SuperPartners with its own super admin system. Administration, once the poor cousin to fund managers and banks in the service provider space, has a bright new…

(pictured: Dori Levanoni)  Whenever the US dollar spikes up or down investors around the world suddenly get interested in their currency exposures. Currency, it seems, is an after-thought asset class which happens to be, often, the first or second-biggest influencer of investment returns. That interest has been piqued right now. Dori Levanoni, a partner, investments,…

(pictured: Keri Pratt) By Keri Pratt* Australian asset managers exist in a superannuation ecosystem that is experiencing rapid or accelerated change (the ‘perfect storm’?) as a result of a range of factors and influences. These trends include: Regulatory change (increasing compliance costs, MySuper limitations and narrowed focus and now the Productivity Commission review) The arrival…

(pictured: Bill Miller and Ben Blanchett) by Patrick Liddy* The US fracking revolution has transformed the economics of oil and gas production globally. The US has become a bigger producer than Saudi Arabia and again becoming energy independent. These dynamics lower energy prices for the end user worldwide while driving a robust US economy. The geopolitical…