Perpetual has announced a shake-up of two funds, which is understood to mean two portfolio managers will depart the business.
Following a strategic review of its global equity capabilities, the firm announced two fund changes.
The $613 million Pendal Concentrated Global Share Fund will move to investment manager Barrow Hanley from 31 October, and management will be taken over by that firm, which is based in the US.
Barrow Hanley is also part of Perpetual, and the fund’s name will change to the Barrow Hanley Concentrated Global Share Fund.
The Perpetual Global Innovation Share Fund will be closed down on 24 October, having been launched back in May 2017.
A fund update from Perpetual said the decision has been taken due to it “not attaining or expecting to attain the scale required for it to remain viable, particularly in terms of investment and operating cost efficiencies”.
As at 30 June 2023, the fund had $65 million in funds under management.
It will also close the Perpetual Global Innovation Share Fund (Managed Fund).
This means the investment teams of Perpetual and Pendal who are currently running the funds will no longer be working on the funds after those dates.
The Perpetual team includes one portfolio manager, Thomas Rice, and three analysts; and the Pendal team includes one portfolio manager, Ashley Pittard, and one analyst.
It is understood that Pittard, Pendal head of global equities who ran the Concentrated Global Share Fund, will be departing the business, as will Global Innovation Share Fund portfolio manager Rice, who has been with the asset manager for almost a decade.
A spokesperson for Perpetual said: “As part of a large global asset management business, we must continually look at ways to leverage the strengths and scale of the broader Perpetual Group to ensure we have a range of differentiated and competitive offerings in the Australian market that we believe will deliver the best outcomes for our clients.”
Earlier this year, the firm announced a reshape of its asset management leadership to form one global division led by Rob Adams as chief executive of the asset management.
Graham Kitchen, current chair of Trillium and Perpetual corporate entities in the UK, will temporarily act as global head of investment strategy while it sources a permanent candidate.
Amanda Gillespie will continue to lead asset management in Australia, and Adam Quaife will lead global distribution – both will join the group executive committee.
The restructure meant two major departures as Alexandra Altinger, chief executive of JO Hambro for UK, Europe and Asia, exits as well as David Lane, who led the Perpetual’s US asset management business.
Adams said: “The changes we are making enable us to have an improved focus on our global asset management business and successful execution of strategy while creating a simplified Perpetual Group leadership structure focused on driving future growth across all our businesses.”
