ING snares Macquarie small caps pair

By Rebecca Evans

ING Australia has bolstered its Australian equities team by snaring two investment specialists from Macquarie Funds Management in a move that triples its capabilities in the small cap sector.

Issam Eid and Steven Ng are the latest recruits to join ING.

Eid joins ING after most recently holding the position of head of Macquarie’s Australian Small Companies Fund and will concentrate his efforts on portfolio management, while Ng will focus on investment research, working alongside senior analyst Andrew Beirne, who has been in the job for over a year.

The two departures caused Macquarie’s small cap operations to be put on hold by ratings house Assirt Research.

Ng has previous experience in corporate strategic advice, before moving on to focus on small company research at Macquarie. He also worked as a joint portfolio manager of Macquarie’s Australian Small Companies Fund.

ING’s business manager Australian equities Paul Cuddy says the fact the two recruits had worked together in the past was proof of performance, but not the overriding factor in their hiring.

“It was a decision to resource based on what the business required, we’re looking at a fund size of over a billion dollars, and decided a team of three was best,” Cuddy says.

Cuddy has been in the job since May, when he replaced John Morgan who left the group after 17 years.

The small caps team report through to Cuddy as well as ING’s senior portfolio manager Australian equities, Mark East.