Auckland-headquartered boutique KiwiSaver scheme, Generate, has upsized its investment team with the appointment of Edward Glennie as senior portfolio manager.
In the newly-created position, Glennie would be supporting Generate CIO, Sam Goldwater, and CEO, Henry Tongue, primarily in global manager selection.
The almost $400 million Generate scheme has a large allocation to offshore equity managers, which currently includes marquee firms T Rowe Price, Magellan, Platinum and Berkshire Hathaway as well as three specialist UK listed investment trusts on its roster.
NZ ‘re-pat’ Glennie joined Generate following a long stint offshore, most recently serving almost 10 years as head of Asian research at the Hong Kong arm of global multi-manager firm, Lighthouse Investment Partners.
Prior to Lighthouse, he worked from 2004-2007 as equity and debt portfolio adviser for the NZ private investment business Masfen Group.
In a statement, Tongue said Glennie would be an asset to the firm during “this stage of growth”.
“Ed’s addition brings a wealth of experience to our investment capabilities,” he said.
Generate has been the fastest-growing KiwiSaver scheme over the last few years. Since the end of last June Generate has grown from about $225 million in funds under management (FUM) to its current level of $390 million.
In the 12 months to March 31, 2016, Generate experienced the highest growth-rate across all KiwiSaver schemes for both members and FUM, of about 160 per cent and 250 per cent, respectively.
Goldwater said Glennie’s appointment was not directly linked to any FUM target.
“It’s more just a case of wanting to grow our investment team when the right people come along,” he said.
While Generate has maintained a generally stable list of underlying managers, Goldwater said the scheme had “traded out of a UK small caps investment trust and an Australian international equities mutual fund” within the previous 12 months.
The scheme was “completing due diligence on a likely new addition”, he said.
Last September, Generate also made changes to its investment committee with the exits of the-then chair, Warren Couillault, and independent member, Jonty Edgar, executive director of Forsyth Barr Asia. At the same time, Couillault resigned as director of Generate with Auckland International Airport general counsel and company secretary, Scott Weenik, filling the board vacancy.
Nick Bowden, Balthazar Capital Advisors director, joined the Generate investment committee in September 2016 with long-standing member, Peter Brook, replacing Couillault as chair.
Couillault, who retains about 6 per cent of Generate shares, engineered a management buyout of the Macquarie NZ equities business last year, rebranding the firm as Hobson Wealth Partners.