AMP Capital reshapes its Australian Equities business
AMP Capital has decided to reshape its Australian Equities business to match its clients’ needs by focusing on areas where there is long-term demand.
The company also said it would no longer offer benchmark-aware, core Australian equities products.
Instead, it would move to a model where its Australian equities fund managers would operate in three focused teams: equity income, small caps and systematic, which would manage highly differentiated products.
Additionally, the systematic team would work closely with its environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment research team to provide clients with ESG-screened portfolios and support the fundamental teams via intelligent screening, the company said.
At the same time, the investment process for the equity income and small cap strategies would remain unchanged while the investment process of internally-managed, ESG screened funds had been strengthened.
These portfolios would be expected to add alpha across the investment cycle by excluding stocks with poor ESG credentials while increasing holdings in those stocks with strong ESG credentials.
As a result of these changes, which are effective immediately, a number of the current members of the Australian Equities team would leave their roles including the current head of Australian fundamental equities, Michael Price, AMP Capital said.
The members of the Australian Equities team are now as follows:
Equity income:
- Tom Young, co-portfolio manager
- Dermont Ryan, co-portfolio manager
- -analyst to be advised
Small Caps:
- Phillip Hudak, co-portfolio manager
- Co-portfolio manager to be advised
- Kent Williams, analyst
- Analyst to be advised
Systematic:
- Genevieve Murray, co-portfolio manager
- Co-portfolio manager to be advised
- Joseph Duncan, analyst
- Vaibhav Rastogi, analyst
The company said the recruitment to fill the remaining positions was underway.
AMP Capital Global’s chief investment officer of equities, David Allen, said: “We believe demand for benchmark-aware, core Australian equities products is in structural decline over the long term.
“The decision to change our Australian Equities business is part of a deliberate strategy to set up the business for growth by responding to shifting client needs and industry trends.”
Recommended for you
Platinum Asset Management has put its two closed-end funds under strategic review in a bid to reduce the share price discount to pre-tax NTA and maximise shareholder value.
In the latest Meet the Manager profile, Money Management speaks with Michael Skinner, founder and managing director at Blackwattle Investment Partners.
Perpetual has seen AUM rise 6 per cent in the last quarter but the departure of a longstanding JOHCM fund manager led to outflows of $2.2 billion from his strategy.
Global fixed income fund Bentham Global Opportunities has been added to several major platforms, enabling it to be accessed more easily by financial advisers.