Challenger has appointed Marco Barchmann as its new co-head of investment solutions.
He has worked at Challenger since 2017 in a variety of roles, including at CIP Asset Management as a portfolio manager and senior portfolio manager.
Prior to joining Challenger, he worked at Deutsche Bank where he spent eight years including as a vice president.
He has now taken on the co-head role at Challenger Investment Solutions which he will share with Jerome Yim who has held the position since March 2021, having previously spent almost four years as a portfolio manager.
The role of co-head of investment solutions requires the pair to devise and implement derivatives-based investment solutions for its Australian superannuation fund clients.
In a speech by chief executive Nick Hamilton at the firm’s annual general meeting last month, he said Challenger’s fund management business has more than $117 billion in funds under management. Funds management has been an area that Challenger has identified as a “core strength” for the firm, alongside life insurance, and it has divested its banking division to focus on these.
“We’ve continued to expand our funds management business as we invest in our capability and offering to meet increasing client demand. This year, Fidante has added new investment strategies, particularly in alternatives.”
Earlier this year, Apollo Global Asset Management reduced its stake in Challenger from 20.1 per cent to 9.9 per cent as it said it intends to redeploy the capital to other growth opportunities.
As a result, director Matthew Michelini, who was Apollo’s representative on the Challenger board, stepped down from the board.
Michelini, who is the head of Asia-Pacific at Apollo, said the two firms remain committed to working together.
He said: “Challenger is one of our most important long-term strategic partners globally and we see meaningful opportunity to continue to support the business as it enters its next phase of growth.
“We are committed to continuing to work closely to provide sources of safe yield via our global asset management capabilities for both the insurance balance sheet and for Fidante to distribute into the local market.”
Since the start of the partnership in July 2021, the two businesses have built a strategic partnership that has included an asset origination and distribution partnership. This has provided Challenger Life with access to Apollo’s direct asset origination capabilities and it has also invested in Apollo’s private market and private equity strategies. Since September 2023, Challenger has distributed Apollo’s Aligned Alternative strategy to Australian retail and wholesale clients.
