Challenger’s small-caps downgrade

By Liam Egan

The appointment by Challenger of a single individual to manage both its small-caps and micro-caps funds, following the recent resignation of lead small-caps portfolio manager James Ring, has not found favour with Standard and Poor’s (S&P).

Challenger’s three small-caps funds were recently downgraded to three stars from four stars by the researcher, and its micro-caps fund to two stars from three stars.

The funds were originally placed ‘on hold’ following the announcement of Ring’s resignation after more than six years as head of Challenger’s Australian equities small-caps products.

Michael Courtney, who assisted Ring in small-caps and headed up micro-caps since joining Challenger three years ago, has now been given responsibility for both the small-caps and micro-caps offerings. Michael Besley, who joined the small-caps team last year, and Challenger’s broader Australian equities team, led by Peter Greentree, will assist him.

S&P fund analyst Ken Ostergaard said while the researcher has “confidence in Michael Courtney, who is taking over a portfolio he is familiar with”, it viewed Ring’s departure as a “significant loss” to Challenger.

Downgrading the micro-caps fund, which Courtney headed up, was in line with S&P’s belief that the “team’s resources are currently insufficient to run two different products, when compared to other managers in this space”, he said.