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(pictured: Michael Thawley) Michael Thawley, Australia’s former and highly rated ambassador to the US, has re-joined the funds management industry – and his old firm – taking up the role as senior vice president for Capital Strategy Research at the big equities shop Capital Group. Thawley, who started in the job last week, is based in…

(pictured: Jeff Bresnahan)  David O’Sullivan has set himself a high bar to beat in his upcoming role as CIO of BUSSQ, the Queensland building industry fund. BUSSQ was the top-performing super fund over the past 12 months. O’Sullivan, who has been both chief executive and CIO of BUSSQ for the past 11 years, is set…

(pictured: Phil Kingston) By Patrick Liddy* Technological innovation has become so linked with the growth of not only companies but also whole economies that many Australian states are seeking to copy the US successes by setting up “centres of excellence” to promote development. But after endeavouring to breathe new life into old clichés what they are…

Goldman Sachs has closed down its Australian transitions management business and will now offer the service out of its London office for Australian clients. There are only five remaining specialist transition managers operating in Australia. A Goldmans spokesperson confirmed last week that the dedicated office had been closed. It is understood that the two specialists…

The Rio Tinto Staff Superannuation Fund, one of the few remaining large corporate funds, is looking to outsource overall management of the fund and is conducting a review. The $5.1 billion fund has used JANA Investment Advisers as its asset consultant for many years and Mercer as its member administrator and provider of actuarial services….

(pictured: Kevin Haran) H2O Asset Management, one of the hedge fund affiliate managers of Natixis Global Asset Management, has won its first global macro mandate in Australia. The mandate is one of several for Natixis to be implemented in the next few months. The London-based H2O is best known for its unconstrained sovereign bonds and credit…

The BT Financial Group is winding up its Advance Alternatives Strategies Multi-Blend Fund. Ramius Alternative Solutions, the US hedge fund of funds manager, will manage the exit until the fund is wound up and money returned to clients. In last week’s edition of Investor Strategy News we said Ramius was to be terminated and the…

(pictured: Alan Dalgleish)  Australia represents the largest investment group for single-country unlisted property funds in the Asia Pacific region, according to the latest study by ANREV. And Asia Pacific investors are more likely than those in Europe or the US to invest in core property assets. Alan Dalgleish, the chief executive of ANREV (Asian Association…

(pictured: Jane Buchan)  The issue of gender diversity – or lack of it – in the alternatives space will be aired at the upcoming AIMA Australia Forum in Sydney. It is more difficult for female hedge fund managers to raise money from investors despite comparable returns with their male counterparts. Jane Buchan, one of the…

(pictured: Jim Christensen)  Some super funds are looking to change their global benchmarks to cater for the “upside down world” of negative interest rates and ongoing uncertainty about the worth of quantitative easing, especially in Japan. At a briefing organised by QIC last week, at which the manager’s latest paper on fixed income investing was…

(pictured: Alan Bird) The New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) in New Zealand has ditched its in-house investment strategy in favour of a fully-outsourced approach. It is conducting a review of potential providers. Following the changes approved at an official meeting last week, the Council will seek an implemented solution for its approximately NZ$270 million (A$257 million)…

(pictured: Damian Moloney)   Last week’s commentary on manager fees, questioning whether super funds realised the services they contract may be damaged as a result of the pressure, drew a good deal of response from both managers on the one hand and funds and consultants on the other. The two sides continue to line up in…