Abrdn sees second Aussie equity manager departure
Natalie Tam, former deputy head of Australian equities at abrdn, has joined Perpetual as a portfolio manager.
She formerly spent 18 years at abrdn in a variety of roles including investment manager and investment director before being appointed as deputy head of Australian equities in October 2020.
Earlier this year, Lopez, who was the firm’s head of Australian equities, also departed after 18 years to join a New Zealand boutique Pie Funds.
During her time at abrdn, Tam worked as lead portfolio manager of the abrdn Sustainable Australian Equity Fund and Australian Small Companies Fund and secondary portfolio manager for the large-cap Australian Equities Fund.
She has now joined Perpetual’s wealth management business as a portfolio manager, where the direct equities team managed around $5 billion in Australian equities for high-net-worth, professional, and charitable foundation clients.
Total funds under administration in the Perpetual wealth management business are $18.4 billion as at 31 March.
Headed up by Stephen Kench, the five-person team covers three portfolio strategies.
Tam will initially be the co-portfolio manager on the Wealth Accumulator strategy with Kench, an analyst on the Perpetual Private small-cap investment process and coverage of the financial sector.
Abrdn has made several changes to its Australian equities division including signing a distribution agreement with Australian fund manager SG Hiscock (SGH), which has seen the latter take over abrdn’s Australian equities business as well as distribute its international funds in Australia.
Three investment professionals from abrdn’s Australian equity team joined SGH to form an eight-person investment team.
Brett Jollie, managing director, said: “We decided to exit Australian equities, we stand out by bringing offshore products to this market whereas Australian equities is super competitive, it’s the first asset class that’s being insourced by super funds, margins are going down, and we aren’t high-profile so we decided to focus on our strengths and have sold that to SGH.”
The abrdn Ex-20 Australian Equities Fund has been renamed the SGH Ex-20 Australian Equities Fund, while the abrdn Australian Small Companies Fund is now renamed as SGH Australian Small Companies Fund.
The Small Companies Fund is now managed by abrdn investment manager Shawn Lee, while the Ex-20 Australian Equities Fund is managed by SG Hiscock portfolio manager, Hamish Tadgell.
There have been no changes to the investment objective or strategy of the funds or any fee changes.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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