Change afoot at Fortis

Standard & Poor’s Fund Services (S&P) has placed the Fortis Investments High Income Global Property Securities Fund ‘on hold’ following senior management changes and the part acquisition of Fortis Bank Belgium by BNP Paribas.

The manager of the fund is Fortis Investment Management Australia (Fortis). Nancy Holland, the chief investment officer of Fortis’ global property team, has announced she will retire at the end of this year.

BNP Paribas has also acquired a 75 per cent stake in Fortis Bank Belgium, the parent of Fortis. This is the second corporate ownership change in a year for the local operations. In April, ABN Amro Asset Management Australia became part of Fortis Investment Management SA.

Holland has been with Fortis and ABN Amro for the past decade. Fortis’ head of the Asian region for the global property fund, Matt Hoult, has been appointed as Holland’s replacement and will transition into the role by the end of the year, S&P said.

S&P analyst Peter Ward said Hoult’s appointment comes with the need for additional analytical resources in the Asia region of the fund.

S&P’s ‘on hold’ position — from the fund’s three star rating — is a result of “the imminent change in the fund’s global portfolio management, other expected team changes, and the potential for further organisational effects caused by the second corporate ownership change in a year”, the research house said.

The fund will remain ‘on hold’ until each of these transitions has been completed.