Assirt drops Colonial Australian shares
TheAssirtresearch house has downgradedColonial First State Investment’s Australian equities capabilities and demoted the majority of its Australian equity products ahead of the impending departure of the group’s head of Australian equites, Greg Perry.
Assirt downgraded Colonial’s entire Australian equity process from ‘Very Strong’ to ‘Strong’ and dropped the rating of its Imputation, Australian Shares and Futures Leaders funds to four stars, a week out from Perry’s much publicised retirement as the head of Colonial’s Australian equites team.
In a report into the fund management group, released today, Assirt said Perry’s departure, announced in March but due to take effect from July 1, would put the capabilities of the rest of Colonial’s Australian equity team in the spotlight, particularly if they were to match Perry’s spectacular investment track record.
According to the report, Ian Harding, who has been announced as the successor to Perry, will face a significant test to preserve the effectiveness of the investment process developed by Perry at Colonial.
The research house report also said Simon Shields, who will take over from Perry as the portfolio manager of Colonial’s flagship Imputation Fund, was yet to have his funds management abilities proven.
In what is a wide ranging account of Colonial’s overall funds management capabilities, Assirt also said the main challenge for the group’s chief executive, Chris Cuffe, was to maintain a ‘performance oriented culture’ following the announcement in March that Colonial would merge with the Commonwealth Bank’s funds management arm, Commonwealth Investment Management.
However the research house praised the merger in its report, saying it made strategic and commercial sense.
According to Assirt, the merger would allow Colonial to continue with its strategy to build its international funds management business and diversifying its operations into new asset classes, including private equity and hedge funds.
Both Colonial’s international and hedge fund management capabilities were rated as ‘Competent’ by Assirt, with the research house awarding all of the group’s hedge and international share funds a three star rating.
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