A key architect of the compulsory retirement savings system lauds its many achievements, stretching from the national economy to the individual. Where it’s double faulting is in serving members – and it needs to be addressed promptly.
With performance and diversification driving demand, these funds are expected to experience four-fold global growth over the next decade to nearly $AU65 trillion.
Eight IP picks up Colonial small-cap mandate
Kerry Series
Eight Investment Partners (8IP) has doubled the size of its Australian small-cap funds with the confirmation last week of a $55 million mandate from Colonial First State – the firm’s first institutional investor.
8IP was established in 2009 by Kerry Series, a co-founder of Perennial Investment Partners and former head of Asia Pacific equities at AMP Capital. He and other staff bought out the majority shareholder in the firm, South Africa’s Sanlam, in March last year. Sanlam had earlier purchased small-cap manager Atom Funds Management, with 8IP rebranding that fund in 2012.
Series said last week the Colonial mandate represented a milestone for the firm, which had until recently attracted mainly high-net-worth investors.
The mandate will be co-managed by Series and another principal, Stephen Walsh.
8IP aims to identify three types of companies in its research: ‘stars’, ‘turnarounds’ and under-researched stocks, Series said. The three-year average return for the small-cap strategy is 17.4 per cent net of fees.
