Ratings house Zenith has maintained its ‘recommended' rating on the Select Alternatives Portfolio (SAP) despite the replacement of former portfolio manager Robert Graham-Smith with external hires, as well as the appointment of dedicated alternatives adviser Neuberger Berman.
Explaining its decision this week, the ratings house said Neuberger Berman had around $19 billion in assets under management across its Alternatives division, including hedge fund of funds and private equity investments.
It said it was Zenith's view that Neuberger Berman was well set up to provide advisory services to Select, particularly in the area of hedge fund selection.
As well, it said Select's long-standing chief investment officer Dominic McCormick was now ultimately responsible for portfolio management responsibility for SAP, although there was significant input from Sydney-based consultant David Bell and London-based Fred Ingham of Neuberger Berman.
"Together the three individuals make the key portfolio decisions for SAP (with McCormick having the final decision)," the Zenith analysis said.
The ratings house also noted that the SAP product was potentially moving to daily liquidity.
"In our view this will result in some change for the underlying portfolio where some of the less liquid positions may need to be exited over the medium term.
"In our view though, there should be limited performance impact (given a weekly redemption profile did not allow SAP to pick up a large illiquidity premium in any case)," the ratings house analysis said.
