Former Souls funds rated after change to Celeste

Two Australian equity funds formerly managed by Souls Funds Management have had their ‘on hold’ status lifted and received ratings from Standard & Poor’s following a name change to Celeste Funds Management.

Both funds maintain the rating they had before the suspension, which was applied while the sale and name change were finalised and until Australian Securities and Investments Commission approval was received.

The rating of a third fund formerly managed by Souls based on large-cap investment has been withdrawn at the request of Celeste.

Treasury Group acquired the Souls business from Washington H Soul Pattinson in late 2009, with the investment team taking majority ownership following a shareholders’ agreement.

The new arrangement will feature a stronger focus on small-cap funds, with Mike Byrne, analyst and portfolio manager of the Australian large-cap funds, and analyst Anoop Kalra being removed from the team.

Their research will be shared among the remaining team members while chief investment officer and small-cap portfolio manager Frank Villante will also manage the Celeste Australian Equity fund, the only remaining Souls product to include large-cap investments.

“Clearly there is a less active investment-management approach for the Celeste Australian Equity Fund compared to that undertaken previously. S&P would like to monitor the manager’s progress in the near future given its focus on the small-cap fund,” S&P fund services analyst Justine Gorman said.

“S&P believes the new ownership structure gives the investment team more autonomy as well as the opportunity for senior managers to have greater equity ownership in the business,” she said.