Colonial First State (CFS) has completed a review of the allocations on its FirstChoice platform, aimed at diversifying away from the equity risk in the portfolio, announcing three new mandates.
The new mandates include $85 million to California-based quantitative manager First Quadrant, $110 million to London-based alternatives manager Aspect Capital and $105 million to New York-based long-only active fixed income and equity specialists Neuberger Berman.
All three managers come under the category of managed futures and global macro, according to CFS head of investment services Scott Tully (pictured).
The allocation has been made across some of the multi-sector portfolios in FirstChoice to diversify the equity risk in those portfolios, he said.
Although this reallocation represents an increase in the alternatives exposure in those portfolios it is part of an overall shift in the asset allocation, rather than coming as a result of a cut to other mandates, Tully said. FirstChoice now has a three percent allocation to alternatives, he added.
The review was instigated following the global financial crisis and earlier this year resulted in an increase to the platforms emerging markets exposure through Realindex, with a corresponding decrease in developed market exposure. There was also an increase to global infrastructure securities with a decrease in domestic property securities, he said.
The three recent mandates conclude the current asset allocation review but more changes are likely in the future, Tully said.
