Investment News

TA Associates could fetch up to $300 million or more for its reportedly in-play one-third stake in Fisher Funds. The Australian Financial Review reported last week that US private equity firm is sounding out investment banks across the Tasman to broker the sale, , with Goldman Sachs tipped as favourite. “Sources said Goldman Sachs, in… [Read More…]

Russell Investments NZ is set to launch a global listed property fund next month, seeded with $50 million. Built for local investors as a portfolio investment entity (PIE), the Russell Global Listed Real Estate Fund features US specialist firm Cohen & Steers and Deutsche Bank asset management subsidiary, DWS, as underlying managers along with an… [Read More…]

BNP Paribas’ securities services division has had a big win after being brought in to keep the preferred candidate honest on price during the tender process for MLC. It was a “Steven Bradbury-style win” for BNP Paribas, which has taken on full custody of the amalgamated Insignia Financial after being brought in as a stalking… [Read More…]

Goldilocks has left the building but consultancy firm, Oliver Wyman, is not forecasting a bear market for the global funds management and financial advisory sectors over the next five years. If not quite bullish, the latest Oliver Wyman annual review of the asset and wealth management industries – produced in association with Morgan Stanley –… [Read More…]

AMP has coughed up A$100 million to settle a long-running legal dispute with hundreds of Australian financial advisers stung by unilateral changes to business buy-out terms in 2019. The settlement “with no admission of liability” draws a line under the buyer-of-last-resort (BOLR) issue that had dogged the ASX-listed entity since the Australian Royal Commission into… [Read More…]

Global regulators are moving closer to reining-in crypto-asset markets following the release of final recommendations by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) last week. Following a more than 12-month consulting period, IOSCO handed down 18 proposed rules to govern crypto-asset regulations grouped under six broad categories. Jean-Paul Servais, IOSCO chair, said the new digital… [Read More…]

After torching A$250 million on a botched blockchain replacement for its CHESS clearing and settlement system, the ASX will spend up to half that again on the first phase of another upgrade attempt. Under a deal confirmed last week, the ASX hired Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to install its off-the-shelf BaNCS for Market Infrastructure product… [Read More…]

Managers from Pzena and Invesco scored highly against the Northern Trust-backed Essentia Analytics’ Behavioural Alpha Benchmark, a system designed to differentiate between luck and true investment nous. Fund managers that made good investment decisions in the past are likely to continue making them in the future, according to research from Essentia Analytics, providing a new… [Read More…]

Factor-based investing has won many fans in the institutional and adviser worlds in recent years with a compelling mix of high science and low fees. But a new Mercer study warns that the data-led investment style, also variously known as ‘smart beta’ or ‘systematic’, should be taken with care. “In our view systematic equity strategies… [Read More…]

Auckland-based fund manager, Pathfinder, beat out 72 contenders to claim the top prize at the Sustainable Business Network (SBN) awards last week. In addition to the “supreme” Transforming Aotearoa New Zealand Award, Pathfinder also won in the Communicating for Impact category while co-founder, John Berry, was named Sustainability Superstar – a first triple-crown outcome in… [Read More…]