AMP Henderson in New Zealand has had a hold notice slapped on its funds by newly relaunched FundSource, formerly research house Ipac Securities NZ.
The group received the hold notice amidst uncertainty following the disestablishment of the portfolio manager position which was held by Stephen Walker.
The news comes after AMP Henderson’s equity team was runner up in FundSource’s NZ Equity Fund Sector award in 2000 and winner of the NZ Fund Manager of the Year Award 1999.
According to AMP Henderson managing director Catherine Savage, Walker is still with the company and is continuing in his role in managing the portfolios. FundSource have speculated that Walker will be redeployed to another area of the company or will leave.
Savage has insisted that AMP Henderson’s financial management processes remain the same, and none of the funds under its control have not lost any money. The removal of Walker, who has been with the company for six years, has come as a surprise to FundSource.
Walker’s departure from the position comes within weeks of the appointment of chief investment officer Chris Wozniak, who had been with AMP Henderson for 10 years heading up fixed interest and foreign exchange operations.
Wozniak said the restructuring reflects the refocusing of the New Zealand operations and the alignment of global alliances. He is not alarmed by FundSource’s latest assessment, which he says is only temporary.
“This is a relatively automatic response by a research house when a major player leaves a team,” Wozniak said. “We are currently engaged in discussions with FundSource about the restructuring of our operations.”
FundSource executive chairman David van Schaardenburg said FundSource has put the AMP Henderson NZ’s AMP NZ Shares Trust and AMP PRP NZ Share Fund on hold as well as the National Bank NZ Equity Growth fund which was also managed by Walker.
Walker had overseen an equity pool in New Zealand totaling $1.2 billion.
