Mercer and Jarden (sort of) have missed out on reappointment to a previously shared $150 million mandate with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC).
As reported last month, HBRC fielded six bids to manage a juiced-up risk portfolio after putting the council fund investments out to tender late in 2023 with Harbour Asset Management understood to have won the contract. However, Jarden Wealth will continue to advise the HBRIC mandate following a joint pitch, according to a spokesperson.
Jarden owns almost 80 per cent of Harbour but the two businesses are expected to officially fall under the same corporate entity this week once the FirstCape amalgamation completes.
Last week, former NZ Superannuation Fund chief, Matt Whineray, was named as FirstCape chair as the group readies for a launch slated for the end of April or early May.
FirstCape will hold Jarden, JBWere NZ, Harbour and the BNZ investment division in a conglomerate set to manage or administer about $44 billion.
The HBRC mandate will add roughly $75 million to the collective total given Jarden (via its Hawke’s Bay branch) already ran half the pool.
HBRC first handed Jarden (then First NZ Capital, or FNZC) and Mercer an equal split of a $50 million investment portfolio in 2018 with funds left over from an abandoned Central Hawke’s Bay dam project – later adding $100 million of other council money to the mandate.
Harbour will take over the portfolio, officially controlled by council subsidiary Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment Company (HBRIC), under a revised risk framework that moves from the current “50:50 fully hedged growth/defensive allocation to a 70:30 partially hedged growth / defensive allocation”, according to the latest disclosure documents.
An earlier review found the HBRC’s “circa $150m managed funds portfolio was too defensively positioned in the context of the Group’s investment goals and wider mix of investment property and infrastructure assets owned”.
The council has also moved to hand HBRIC, initially formed in 2018 to manage shares in the newly floated Napier Port, oversight of all its assets such as property and forestry in addition to the managed funds.
As per the new investment instructions, Harbour will have “to take into account the… [HBRIC]wider investment portfolio when building fund allocations”.
HBRC was unable to provide comment prior to deadline.