Russell looks to boutiques
David Slack
Russell has looked to two relatively new boutiques to add some impetus to two of its key funds — the Russell Australian Shares Fund and the Russell Australian Opportunities Fund.
Russell said its Australian Shares Fund had been enhanced by adding a 10 per cent allocation to Karara Capital, a newly-formed boutique Australian equity manager that is led by Rohan Walsh and Luke Sinclair, both formerly of INVESCO.
It said the firm also featured David Slack, who was previously a portfolio manager at Portfolio Partners and a foundation manager for this fund. Slack is responsible for small caps at Karara.
Russell said the change had resulted in a high conviction manager being appointed, something that was expected to increase the fund’s alpha potential.
Looking at the Russell Australian Opportunities Fund, the company said Plato Investment Management was a newly formed, Australian-owned quantitative boutique fund manager within the Pinnacle Investment Management Group.
It said the addition of Plato, an active extension manager, provided a good complement to the current fund structure, with Russell having high conviction in the investment team and their ability to outperform.
Russell said the addition of Plato’s 130/30 Active Extension strategy increased the fund’s exposure to higher alpha strategies whilst maintaining the fund’s overall style characteristics.
It said Plato’s quantitatively-driven approach to portfolio management continues to maintain stock selection as the key driver of the overall fund’s active risk.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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