David Chaplin

Harbour Asset Management has launched a new wholesale global equities Portfolio Investment Entity (PIE) fund in association with renowned Baltimore-based growth manager, T Rowe Price. While T Rowe Price markets to larger institutions here directly, Andrew Bascand, Harbour managing director, said the deal would give smaller-scale New Zealand investors tax-effective access to one of the… [Read More…]

The NZX will hand over its first bonus payment of $5 million to Superlife’s former owners if the unit retains funds under management (FUM) at current levels for a year. According to an NZX presentation accompanying the release of its annual results last week, the group will pay out $5 million to Superlife’s ex owners… [Read More…]

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS) was not the only sovereign wealth fund (SWFs) caught out by a soured Portuguese bank loan, according to sources close to the matter. It is understood a handful of as-yet-unnamed SWFs and global fund managers were exposed to the roughly US$800 million loan to now-bankrupt Banco Espírito Santo (BES)… [Read More…]

The majority of New Zealand share managers retained their benchmark-beating reputations over 2014, according to a new Mercer report. “Of the 11 managers in our survey benchmarked to the NZX50 Index, close to all outperformed, though the spread of outcomes was reasonably wide,” the Mercer survey says. David Scobie, Mercer NZ senior consultant and author… [Read More…]

AMP NZ financial services division grew its profit margins a tad over 11 per cent in the year to end December 2014 on the back of rising KiwiSaver inflows, favourable currency movements and cost-squeezing on its life insurance division. AMP annual accounts, published last week, reveal the group’s net KiwiSaver inflows of A$343 million were… [Read More…]

By Greg Bright* Ben Skilbeck, a former investment banker with Merril Lynch and Credit Suisse, has become the new chief executive of Australian-based international manager PM Capital, following the departure in December of Chris Donohoe. Skilbeck started at PM Capital this month, most recently having worked at quant research house Rismark. Rismark was a start-up… [Read More…]

By Greg Bright* Matthew Brown, who has about 20 years experience in securities servicing, will replace Christine Bartlett as general manager of NAB Asset Servicing when she retires next month. Bartlett, who took on a non-executive directorship of property group Mirvac in December, has decided to pursue further such roles and depart NAB at the… [Read More…]

Investors should consider four options when facing the prospect of a prolonged period of low returns, according to a just-released paper by asset consultant Towers Watson Australia. The ‘Investing in a low return environment’ paper argues that with most risky assets “fully priced” and cash rates at historic lows, investors need to revisit previous return… [Read More…]

New Zealand’s most eligible funds management firms should find out this week if they’ve made the short-list for one of the biggest local equities mandate ever. Industry sources said AMP Capital is farming out about $350 million of NZ equities previously managed by its now-departed in-house team. It is understood the request for proposal (RFP)… [Read More…]